Organized Deception
by TiedToReality
Summary: Amestris struggles in conflict with Drachma as a war hovers over the horizon. Al finds himself in the middle of it all when he is captured by a group of Drachman terrorists mistaking him for Edward. During his time as a hostage and forced accomplice, the truth unravels and he starts to discover that there's more to be seen than what is shown. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, everyone! I'm back with another story. Hopefully this one doesn't take a year to complete. I noticed that there weren't a lot of fanfics that focused on Al. He's pretty badass too, so I've decided to give him his time in the spot light. Shout out to my editor Lacila for the help. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

**ALSO SPOILERS FOR THE END OF FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD.**

It was a quiet day in Central. The sun shined brightly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Al smiled as the suns heat warmed him from where he stood on the balcony. He and Ed lived in an overpriced apartment near Central Headquarters. Since Ed was still in the military, he thought it would be nice to live nearby his job. While Ed was working at a desk in Headquarters, Al was studying at a cram school in the hopes of passing the entrance exam to Central University, despite missing years of education. Because he had studied so much while he was in the armor, he had little difficulty getting used to school. Al enjoyed the fact that their lives were finally normal. They had daily routines that they stuck by, and didn't have to hop on a train every few days. It was relaxing, and Al loved every minute of their normalcy.

It had been three years since they had gotten his body back. After Al had sacrificed himself so that Ed wouldn't die because of Father, Ed had gone half mad trying to get him back. In the end, the cost was Ed's alchemy. Al felt guilty that Ed couldn't transmute anymore, but Ed told him he was worth more than alchemy. Still, alchemy was what Ed was amazing at, and his entire life revolved around it. He knew Ed got upset sometimes or felt useless, but he always shrugged it off. For the first few weeks after getting his body back, Ed was paranoid that if Al wasn't within his sight at all times, he would disappear. After a while, Ed eased up, Al regained his strength, and now their lives were complete.

They had gone back to Resembool and lived with Winry for two years, but Ed had returned to the military a year ago to try to help with the conflict. Their planned trip to Xing was delayed, and Al decided he wanted to go to college instead. Al stretched and looked at the time. It was almost eleven in the morning, and he still hadn't gotten properly dressed. Normally he was up bright and early and had breakfast waiting on the table, but since it was a Sunday, he didn't have to do that. Sundays were his favorite day of the week. He and Ed would spend time with each other without having to worry about work or studying.

Still, his hair was a mess and he was getting tired of wearing his pajamas. Sunday or not, he still wanted to look presentable. He turned away from the balcony and walked past his brother, who was in the study. Ed usually slept past noon on Sundays, but he had been bothered about the recent developments with Drachma. Mustang had been giving him paperwork about the struggle going on between the two countries. Because of it, Ed was already awake and reading over some documents. He had been up earlier than Al for most of the week. He decided he would have a talk with Ed once he was done getting dressed.

Al entered the bathroom and grabbed his comb. He brushed through his short blonde hair and grabbed his clothes. After sliding on a white dress shirt and tan slacks, he exited the bathroom and entered the study where Ed was. Ed didn't notice his presence. He flipped through the documents in deep concentration. He was completely blind to the world around him whenever he studied. "Brother?" Al called out, receiving no response. "Brother, you should take a break for a little while. You should have slept in; it's Sunday," Al suggested, walking up to his older brother that was hunched over a desk. Al touched his shoulder and tried to pry the document away from him.

"I can't, Al. This is serious," Ed protested, snatching the document back irritably.

Al felt a hint of dread at how stern his tone was. He sighed and pulled up a chair next to him. "You've been here for hours. Haven't you already finished reading those?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah, but maybe I'll find a new solution if I read them again."

"What's it about?"

Ed ran a hand through his loose, messy hair. "Drachma."

"I see." Al wasn't oblivious to what was happening. There were four warnings from terrorists in the last six months. They had found the Amestrian flag burning in the park, there was an attempt at destroying a memorial monument, an entire city was almost destroyed, bombs have been going off near the border, and protesters were roaming the streets and shouting daily. It all started back at the attack on Briggs. Though Drachma had been the one to break the pact, they blamed Amestris and believed Amestris used Kimblee to lure them there to wipe out their troops. Drachma had been sending out warnings and causing trouble ever since. "Was there another attack?"

"Not yet, but there's going to be if we don't do something. Damn it! How the hell do we stop this!?" Ed clenched his fists tightly and glared at the document.

Al placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We'll think of something. I'm sure Co-General Mustang will have a plan. Why don't you eat something?"

Ed swatted his hand away. "I can't, Al! If I don't think of something, a whole damn war is going to break out! And don't bring Mustang into this! That damn bastard probably doesn't have a clue on what to do! If he did, he wouldn't be asking for my help on this! And don't you remember what happened when he went over there!?" Ed's expression was filled with anger and traces of worry.

Al gulped. Ever since their pact of non-aggression ran out in 1914 with the attack on Briggs, they had been on a slippery slope with Drachma. Several attempts were made by the military to renew the pact, but Drachma didn't want to hear it. They've had trouble with the country for quite some time before, but it was getting out of control. They had already declared war, but Amestris was trying to prevent it by finding some in between ground. General Mustang went to Drachma as an ambassador of peace six months ago. It ended with him almost being assassinated. Peace wasn't what they wanted. Any move Amestris made was viewed as a set up. They wanted to destroy Amestris before Amestris destroyed them. "Maybe we should accept that it's beyond our control right now," Al muttered sadly.

Ed looked at him with a mix of anger and disbelief. "Like hell I'll accept that! There has to be a way to turn this around!" Ed flailed his arms in the air out of exasperation, gritting his teeth.

Al frowned as he noticed the bags under Ed's eyes. "Brother, have you been sleeping at all this week?"

Ed stuttered for an answer and then spewed out, "How can I sleep when all of this is going on!?" Ed stood up from his seat and ran to grab another document. He sighed and lowered his gaze to the ground. "Maybe I should go there myself and talk sense into these people. Don't they realize how many people are going to die?"

"Brother..." Al stood up and snatched the file away. "You're tired and stressed out. You won't be helping anyone like this. Please, take a break for a little while."

Ed looked at Al, then the documents, then at Al again. He sighed as his fatigue caught up with him. "Fine."

Al smiled. "Do you want something to eat?"

Ed's stomach rumbled as an answer. "Yeah; food sounds good."

"Okay." Al smiled and walked to the kitchen. Ed followed and sat down unceremoniously at the table. Al frowned as he rummaged through the fridge. "I need to take a trip to the grocery store." Al closed the refrigerator door and walked towards the coat rack. "Do you want to come wi-" Al paused and smiled softly as Ed slept peacefully with his head on the table. "I'll take that as a no." He wrote a note and placed it on the table. He knew Ed would panic if he woke up and he wasn't there. After sliding on his gray trench coat, he exited the apartment.

Al smiled as the wind blew through his hair. 'It's such a nice day today,' he thought to himself. He walked through the neighborhood, reveling as his senses were indulged. He followed the scent of freshly cut grass to one of the neighbor's house.

"Morning, Alphonse," an old man greeted from where he stood in his yard, turning off his lawnmower.

"Hello, Mr. Richmond!" Al walked over to him. "How are you?" he asked politely.

"These old bones feel great today. I thought I should get things done while it lasts."

"I'm glad you're doing well." Al looked over to the garden. "How are the flowers doing?"

"They're doing well. I'm glad I listened to you. The soil you recommended helped them to bloom. Thanks Alphonse," Mr. Richmond informed with a smile.

"It was nothing, honest! I'm happy that I was able to help." As much as he would have liked to stay and chat, he remembered his original goal. "Oh, I'm sorry, but I must be going! It was nice talking to you!"

"You young people are always on the move. Say hello to Edward for me."

"I will. Bye sir!" Al waved and then ran for the grocery store. It wasn't until he picked up a basket that he remembered he forgot to write a list down. He decided to try his best to recall everything they were out of. As he picked out a can of peas, someone called for him.

"Alphonse Elric?" a male voice asked.

Al turned to see a guy around his age with blonde hair and brown eyes. "Oh, you're, um, Clyde, right?"

"You remember me!" Clyde smiled and walked over.

Al laughed. "Of course I do! We go to cram school together, after all."

"Right, right. I didn't think you would. When I talk to you at school, it seems like you're not listening."

Al felt slightly embarrassed. 'I do that too when I study?' he asked himself. He laughed awkwardly and scratched his cheek. "Oh, sorry."

"It's nothing to apologize for! Hey, could you help me out with something?"

"Sure. What is it?" Al asked as he placed the cans into his basket.

"I'm confused on one of the homework assignments."

"Which one?"

"Which one!? We have more than one assignment!?" Clyde's eyes grew wide as the information hit him like a truck.

"Uh," Al struggled on what to say. He wondered if Clyde had paid attention to the class at all. "Yes."

"Oh, shit! What are they?" Clyde asked frantically.

"Well, we have to write a short essay on Phylum Porifera, since we are studying the animal kingdom. Then we have to-"

"Hang on." Clyde hastily pulled out a pen and notebook. "Continue."

Al shook his head. "You know, it might be better if I help you on this." Al glanced at his basket and put it down. "Why don't we go to the cafe? I'll help you there," he offered with a shy smile.

"You will!? Thanks, Alphonse! You're my hero!"

**xxx**

Al groaned as he sluggishly walked to the apartment. He checked his gold wrist watch and wasn't pleased at the time. "It's already four. Brother must be worried." After helping Clyde, he had rushed to the store and gotten all of the groceries. He hoped that Ed had managed to find something to eat. He felt guilty for leaving Ed for so long. He had meant it only to take a moment, but Clyde was completely clueless on almost all of it. He knew he should have left sooner, but he would feel bad if he left his fellow classmate to fail.

His frustration was replaced with joy as he saw a small orange cat. "Hey, kitty!" Al said as he got on his knees. He placed the grocery bags on the ground next to him and called out to the animal. "Are you lost?" The cat studied him and then broke into a run. "Wait!" Al grabbed the bags and chased it. "I won't hurt you!" He stopped running when the cat jumped into the arms of a young woman. The woman had dark brown hair and brown eyes. She looked over at him and Al felt a bit embarrassed. 'Great. I must look stupid chasing a cat around with these bags,' he thought. "I-Is that your cat?" he asked.

The young woman petted the cat. "Yeah, for now. My brother and I are taking care of him."

"Oh. Sorry. I thought he was a stray," Al admitted sheepishly.

"Can't blame you. Rascal here was a stray. We took him in."

"You did? That was nice of you." Al was a bit envious. He had suggested that they take in stray cats to Ed several times, but he always told him no.

"Not really. This cat pisses my boss off all the time. He tears up anything he sees. It's how he got his name," she explained. Before either of them could react, Rascal jumped out of her arms and climbed onto one of Al's grocery bags. He clawed at the paper until it's contents fell out. "Rascal, no!" the woman scolded as she picked him up. Al got on the ground and started picking up the items. "I'm really sorry about that." She got down and started helping him put the items in the other bags.

Al sighed as he realized how much time he was wasting. "It's alright."

The woman finished up placing the groceries into the other bags and stood up. "Sorry for the trouble. The names Lynne Kuzmin, by the way." Lynne said and extended her hand.

Al took it and shook it. "Alphonse Elric, and it's alright."

Lynne suddenly tightened her grip. "Your last name is Elric?"

Al was a bit surprised as she began studying him. "Uh, yes." Al tried to subtly free his hand, but her grip was unrelenting.

"Are you, by any chance, a gifted alchemist?"

Al chuckled softly and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "Well, I wouldn't say gifted, but I am an alchemist."

Lynne nodded and continued to look at him strangely. "Can you transmute without a circle?"

Al didn't know what to make of that. He wasn't sure if he should answer or walk away. He decided on the latter. "I have to go." As he attempted to walk away, she still kept a grip on his hand and pulled him back.

"You're forgetting your groceries," Lynne said coldly, pointing to the bags scattered about.

"O-Oh, right." Just as he leaned down to get them, he felt a metal pole strike the top of his head. The world around him grew dizzy as he struggled to maintain consciousness. Just as he was about to clap his hands and fight back, another strike was all it took for him to pass out.

**xxx**

"He's waking up," an unfamiliar voice said. Al groaned as sunlight hit his eyelids. His head throbbed with pain. He wondered if he and Ed had gotten in a heated sparring match. Suddenly he realized that the ground below him was moving. When he groggily opened his eyes, he realized he was in a car. 'Is Brother taking me to the hospital?' he asked himself. He felt something small and furry move against him. 'A cat? Brother got me a cat?'

"What are you waiting for? Knock him out," a female voice said.

Al had little time to react as a fist came at him and the world went black.

**xxx**

Al woke up with aching pain inside his skull. He groaned as he opened his eyes. He was surprised to see darkness. For a moment he was startled and thought that he lost his eyesight. After snapping out of it, he realized he was blindfolded. 'I'm blindfolded? What happened?' He tried hard to remember what had happened, but came up blank. He wasn't sure if the throbbing in his skull was why he couldn't remember or not. He made an attempt to rub his head, but he realized he was in wooden handcuffs. 'I'm handcuffed? Am I in a prison?' He noticed that his palms were safely apart, so whoever captured him knew he could transmute. He could feel that behind his pants, his legs were tied together with rope.

He felt something sticky and wet on his forehead. His blindfold was a shade darker in one spot. 'Is that blood?' It all came back to him. His conversation with Lynne and how she started asking him strange questions. He wasn't sure what was going on or why they wanted him, but he felt pathetic for being captured so easily. 'This isn't good. What do they want from me? And brother? How is brother? I hope he's safe. He better not be kidnapped too!' A pang of guilt hit him as he realized that if Ed was okay, he was worried sick about him. He had no way of knowing how long it had been. He hoped it had only been a day or two. Knowing his brother, he was freaking out majorly and searching for him.

"Great, just great," he muttered. He realized he could talk. Whoever these people were, they didn't bother to gag him. Using what he gathered, he had three clues. They knew he was an alchemist, they didn't want him to know who they were, and they wanted him to tell them something. He realized that Lynne had said her last name was Kuzmin. That sounded like a Drachman surname. It could mean that he was taken hostage by a group of Drachman terrorists that wanted him to spill secrets about the military.

He didn't get to think over things for long as the sound of a door opening echoed in the room. He could tell by how the door sounded a bit far away that he was likely in a large room. "Oh, you're awake!" The same male voice from the car ride shouted. He heard footsteps approaching him. He could sense that that man was right in front of him. "I've got to say, it's nice to meet you. You've been hell to find."

Al kept silent in the hopes of the mystery man spilling more info. 'They were looking for me, but why? Why me?' he asked himself.

"To be honest with you, we were all going to throw in the towel on searching for you. Now we've got you right where we want you. I'm surprised you didn't put up one of your notorious fights."

Al held back his tongue. He already felt awful about being caught off guard and leaving his brother alone. He still didn't know if he was alright or not.

"What's the matter? Don't want to talk?" The man asked.

"What do you want from me?" Al growled.

"There we go! You finally said something!" Al stiffened as a hand patted his head. "I know how all of this looks, but we're not your enemies. If you just tell us what we want to know, we can make all of this disappear."

"That doesn't answer my question," he snarled. He was running out of patience. He just wanted to go home.

"Relax. You'll find out soon enough. There's no reason to get so angry, shorty."

Al's eyes widened as it all came together. They thought he was his brother! It explained all the strange questions Lynne asked, but he had said that his name was Alphonse, not Edward. She might have only paid attention to the last name, or mixed their names up. Besides, most of the world thought he was still in a suit of armor. They probably had no idea that he got his body back and that Ed lost his alchemy. He was glad that it meant Ed would be safe. They wouldn't go after him if they believed they already caught him. For now, all he had to do was pretend to be him until he could think of a plan to get out of there.

Al took a deep breath. He wasn't sure if he could do a good impression of his brother, but he had to try; for his sake. Al mustered all the anger he could, and shouted loudly, "WHO YOU CALLING A TINY LITTLE ANT THAT YOU CAN STEP ON AND STILL WON'T DIE BECAUSE THE CRACK OF YOUR SHOE IS LARGE ENOUGH TO HIDE IN!?"

There was silence, and Al grew anxious. He wondered if the man had seen through him and realized that he wasn't Ed.

Laughter broke the silence. "You really are sensitive about your height! I thought that was just a rumor! This is going to be beautiful!"

Al felt relief flood through him. 'Okay, he doesn't suspect a thing. I just have to keep this up and think of something,' he told himself. "Don't tease me, uh, bastard!"

There was the sound of footsteps that got closer to the two of them. "Lance, you're not supposed to be talking to him. The Boss won't be happy if he finds out you're doing this."

"Fine, fine. Jeez. When's he coming back, anyways?" the man asked.

"Tomorrow."

Al recognized the woman as Lynne. "You tricked me," he said with anger.

Lynne sighed. "Get used to it. Life isn't fair. Come on, Lance."

"I'm coming," the man, now known as Lance, said. He heard the retreating footsteps and the sound of the door closing. "See you later, Fullmetal Alchemist." Al was left alone as the door slammed shut.

"I can't believe they bought it," Al muttered. He was grateful that Ed would be safe. However, he knew it couldn't go on forever. Sooner or later, someone would find out he wasn't who he said he was. He hoped it was later rather than sooner.

**Thanks for reading this! If you would like to see me continue with this, please let me know by leaving feedback. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all for your support! I'm very happy that people are interested in this story. I edited this chapter on my own, so I apologize for any minor mistakes. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

Bored. Alphonse was very bored. His fear had withered and faded after a few hours of being isolated. At first he had kept himself occupied thinking of ways to escape. He had nothing on him that could help his situation. His right wrist felt unusually light, since his watch had been taken away. They even stole his wallet. His pocket knife was gone, of course, and so were his house keys. All he had were his clothes and boots.

He tried several times to hop away. It ended with him tripping over himself several times. He threw in the towel when his wound reopened. He let out a slight chuckle as he collided with the cold floor. 'Pathetic. I'm pathetic without alchemy,' he thought to himself. He sighed heavily, shaking his head. He couldn't allow himself to get negative. The good news was that his brother was okay. With that knowledge, Al drifted off into sleep.

**xxx**

"Fullmetal, get some rest," Mustang suggested as he approached the now disappointingly taller blonde. Ed was in his office scribbling notes and reading over eye witness reports. Al had gone missing three days ago, and Ed was stopping at nothing to find him. First, he had gone around shouting down the streets for Al. He ran into people that had seen Al, and a helpful witness said they saw him chasing a cat around, but the trail went cold when Ed found grocery bags scattered across the ground. From that moment, Ed had a gut feeling that Al had been taken against his will. For the first couple of days, Mustang had expected Fullmetal not to sleep at all. Now that it was nearing the third all-nighter in a row, and the blonde couldn't even walk properly, he couldn't let him stay up anymore. He knew how much Ed loved Al and all about their bond. He also knew that Al wouldn't want him overworking himself like he currently was. "Those reports will be there in the morning."

"Yeah, but will Al be?" Ed retorted, biting back a yawn as he reread the same sentence for the fifth time. 'Focus, focus,' he told himself, trying to push his body to keep going.

"Fullmetal, you're not making any progress."

"Well 'aybe if ya shut'p and help me we can get some god da'n work done," Ed slurred out as his eyes repeatedly opened and closed.

Mustang got on his knees and grabbed the reports away from Ed, who was too weak to clutch onto them. "I'll take over. If Drachma is responsible for his disappearance, I'm certain I'll be able to find a clue."

"Give them back." Ed reached for the papers, but his arm fell limp to his side. "'m fine, damn it. He's my brother."

Mustang shook his head. "I'm aware of that, but you're not saving Alphonse this way. What if we found a trail to follow, and you were too tired to fight?"

Ed, who normally didn't listen to reason, nodded with a yawn. "Good point. I should listen to you, sir."

Mustang almost had a heart attack when the words left Ed's mouth. It shouldn't have been frightening for Ed to finally treat him with respect, but it was. "Rest. Right now."

Within seconds, the blonde was curled up on the floor, sleeping soundly. Mustang draped Ed's brown trench coat onto him and then resumed where he had left off. He heard someone knock on his door gently. "Come in."

Hawkeye walked in carrying two cups of coffee. "Evening, sir," she greeted as she handed him a cup.

Mustang gratefully took it. "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel. It's the middle of the night. What are you doing here?"

"The same as you are. I'm concerned for the Elric brothers." Hawkeye sat down and picked up one of the papers. "Have you had any luck?"

"No. There were no eye witnesses where we found the groceries. Nobody saw what happened outside of him chasing the cat. The people who kidnapped him were experts. With what little evidence we have, it's just as possible for Al to have gotten angry and left the groceries and his brother behind as it is for him to have gotten kidnapped."

"You know the first is hardly possible, sir," Hawkeye stated as she took a sip of her coffee.

Mustang glanced at the sleeping blonde and nodded. "I know that. Alphonse wouldn't run away from home."

"Right." Hawkeye grabbed one of the reports and read over it. "Where are the groceries at now?"

"The evidence room."

Hawkeye scanned over the page. "Did you check for fingerprints?"

Mustang sighed as he downed the rest of his coffee. "I knew I forgot something. The department isn't here at this hour. I'll ask them to do it first thing in the morning."

"Would you like me to remind you, sir?"

"Yes." Mustang started grabbing all of the scattered papers and organized them. "There's a little rumor going around that you might get another promotion soon."

Hawkeye smiled softly. "Is that so? As long as it doesn't interfere with our agreement, I'll accept."

"You would turn down being promoted to Colonel?" Mustang asked, looking at her for an answer.

"I've learned from watching you that being a Colonel isn't easy. I'm fine where I am."

Mustang shook his head. He already knew that Hawkeye was loyal to the very end and wouldn't accept a position that didn't allow her to keep an eye on him. "You know I can handle myself."

Hawkeye smiled. "If you say so, sir." Hawkeye extended her hand and gently patted Ed's head. Whenever the brother's were around, it brought out a soft, almost motherly side of her. "Poor boys. The world just can't seem to leave them alone."

"I'll say," Mustang said with a sigh. "It's surprising for Alphonse to have gone missing this time. I've gotten used to Fullmetal being the one that gets in trouble."

Hawkeye nodded. "You're right. I remember those times. Alphonse would go searching for him himself."

Mustang yawned and looked at the time. "You should head home, Lieutenant Colonel. It's late."

Hawkeye nodded and stood up. "I take it you'll be spending the night in your office."

"I can't leave Fullmetal here alone. I promised the kid I would figure something out."

Hawkeye looked down at the sleeping blonde. "He's not a kid anymore, sir. He's legally an adult now."

Mustang let out a slight laugh. "Right. They're both growing up. Then again, they did a long time ago."

Hawkeye turned and just as she was about to open the door, she paused. "Fuhrer Grumman wanted me to deliver you a message."

Mustang looked up at her with curiosity. "What is it?"

"He said that you better get back to work as soon as the Elric brothers are safe again."

Mustang smiled. "Right. Tell him I'll get to it as soon as possible."

**xxx**

Al's eyes shot wide open as he was painfully kicked in the stomach. "Rise and shine!" Lance said with a hint of laughter.

Al groaned. "What on ea-" Al stopped himself before he broke Ed's character. "What the hell was that for!?"

"For breakfast, of course!" Al was grabbed by the hood of his coat and forced to sit up straight. He felt a tray being thrown onto his lap. "Eat up!"

Al was still blind folded, so he couldn't even see what he was given. He gasped as his hand fell into burning hot oatmeal. "Ouch!" Al shook his hand in an attempt to cool it. His body was still very sensitive to certain things. One of those things were temperature. He could feel his body already start to heat up just because of his hand. Thankfully it faded. "How am I supposed to eat when my hands are tied up and I can't see?"

Lance laughed. "You're a genius. Figure it out."

Al frowned as he felt around for silverware. He couldn't find any. "There's nothing for me to eat it with."

"Yeah, yeah. Would you like to send your complaints by letter or by phone call, princess?" Lance said sarcastically.

Al grumbled. "Neither."

"Good!" he heard footsteps getting farther away. "The boss will be coming to see you today! You might want to down every last bit of that. He hates food getting wasted." Lance chuckled and then the door slammed shut.

Al didn't want to tempt whoever the 'boss' person was. He tried to grab the bowl with his hands, but they were too far apart to grab both edges. Instead, he grabbed the edge and bottom with his left hand. He tried to lift the bowl to his lips, but the wooden handcuffs bumped into his chin hard. The pain caused him to drop the bowl. "Oh no!"

Al yelped as the burning hot oatmeal fell onto his legs. He stood up and hopped for a bit. "Hot, hot, hot!" he chanted as he tried to cool himself off. The next thing he knew he was falling again and landed on the hard floor. "Great." He sighed. His stomach rumbled loudly, adding insult to injury. He had not only spilled his only meal all over the floor, but he had also ruined his pants. He sighed when an idea hit him. He felt around for one of the shards of the broken bowl. His breath hitched as his finger got cut by the sharp edge. "Perfect."

He grabbed the shard with his right hand and turned his hand to face the handcuffs as much as he could. He began to carefully saw the wooden area holding his wrist captive. Time passed, and the slight opening was slowly starting to get wider. The shard broke in half when he tried to go faster. He sighed and grabbed another shard. It was difficult to cut through the wood in the position his hand was in, but it was working a little. He just needed to get one hand free, then he could transmute the handcuffs off and get out of there.

He gasped as he heard the sound of a doorknob turning. He dropped the shard and carefully stepped on it, using his boot to hide it. The door creaked open and someone gasped. "What did you do?" Lynne asked.

"It slipped," Al admitted.

"Ugh! You better clean this up!"

"How?"

"Use a rag!"

"I don't have one."

Lynne grumbled and he heard the footsteps get closer. He was forced to stand up. He gasped as he stood on the shard. He could feel it starting to shatter. He subtly lifted his foot to hover over it. Thankfully Lynne didn't notice. He heard the sound of cutting and gasped as he realized she was shredding a part of his coat. "H-hey!"

"Quiet," she said sternly as she cut through. "Here's your damn rag." She tossed the shredded piece of his coat into his hand. "If you want to keep the clothes on your back, then behave, Edward."

Al almost stupidly corrected her, but bit his tongue. He was upset about his coat, but glad that she really hadn't paid attention to his first name. "What the hell? That was my damn coat!"

Lynne kicked him in the knee. Al grimaced in pain and almost fell down. "Shut up! I just want to wring your neck sometimes. You're a spoiled brat! Clean this mess up, and you lost your lunch privilege!" Al heard her footsteps grow heavy, indicating she was stomping, and the door slammed shut loudly.

Al sighed in relief and sat down carefully. He grabbed the shard and placed it to the side. He gathered all the shards and put them in a pile to the side. He felt around for the spilled oatmeal on the floor. "At least it's cold now," he told himself. He begrudgingly used his coat to clean up the mess. He would have to transmute it back together later. Even though Ed now wore a brown trench coat, he had gotten his gray coat to match his red one. Ed had even gone through the trouble to engrave the black symbol on the back.

Al grew still as his eyes widened with the realization. "E-engraved..." Al stuttered out. His watch. The gold one he had gotten as a birthday present. It was engraved with his name on the back. They had his watch. If they just looked on the back of it, it was all over. They would either hold him as a hostage and send a note to the military to lure Ed out, or kill him and then go searching for the real one. He had to cause a distraction. He had to somehow get his watch back, or get out of there and back in time to warn Ed. He had to protect him!

"Hey, Boss! You're back!" He heard Lance shout loudly. His breath hitched. This wasn't good at all. He couldn't hear what was going on. He stood up and carefully hopped closer to where the muffled voices were. He hit his forehead against the wall. "Ow." He slid down to the ground, pressing his ear against the cold surface.

"What happened to you?" An unfamiliar feminine voice asked.

"Just some difficulties," another unfamiliar male voice said.

"Well, tell us! Did you find him or not?" Lynne asked.

"We did. He's being held at an Amestrian prison."

Al didn't know what was going on. Who was being held? Why was he important? If he was in prison, it must've been for a good reason.

"Damn, boss! I'm impressed. You look like shit, yet you still made it here back to us!" Lance exclaimed.

"We will head out tonight. You'll have to go without me, but I'll give you your orders over the radio. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Several people said at once.

"Where's the Fullmetal alchemist?" The Boss asked.

"Right this way," Lynne said. Al gasped and before he could move away from the wall, he heard the doorknob jiggling. The sound was coming from directly above him. The door swung open roughly, smashing him between the wall and the door. He got the breath knocked out of him as he was crushed. "What is this? Where did he go!?" Lynne shouted. He heard footsteps go deeper into the room.

"Found him," The voices referred to as The Boss said as he removed the door.

"What?" Lynne asked. Al heard light footsteps approach him. "Were you spying on us!? You-"

"Kuzmin," The Boss interrupted.

"Yes?"

"Who the hell is this?"

Al's heart beat fast and his throat went dry as he was discovered. "What do you mean? He's the Fullmetal Alchemist!"

"No he is not."

There was an awkward silence. "W-what?" Lynne asked.

"This isn't him."

"What!? But he matched what you told us!" Al heard the sound of pages flipping. "I wrote your description down! Blonde hair, gold eyes, gifted alchemist, transmutes without a circle, sensitive to his height, and wears a coat with a cross and serpent on the back!"

Al wasn't sure what to do, so he just sat there awkwardly. He was grabbed by the arm and forced to stand up and turn around. "He has the symbol, he is blonde..." The Boss noted. Al's blindfold was lifted. When he opened his eyes, he barely had time to adjust as his vision was blocked again. "He has gold eyes... and you say he is sensitive to his height?"

"Oh yeah! It was fun!" Lance said as he entered the room.

"That's odd, because this isn't him."

"What? We got the wrong guy?" Lance burst out into laughter. "Wow! Way to go, Lynne!"

Lynne growled. "Put a sock in it, Lance! Boss, this doesn't make any sense! He said his name was Elric!"

"Are you an Elric?" The Boss asked, shaking Al. Al didn't know what to say. "Answer me right now!"

"Hey, we got some belongings off of him. There's got to be an id somewhere!" Lance mentioned.

Al's heart sunk with dread. It was over.

"Go get it," The Boss ordered.

A moment passed and then Lance entered the room again. "Here you go, boss!"

He could hear the sound of his wallet sliding open. "Nothing. Just cenz," Lynne stated with a sigh.

"Woah! This guy is loaded!" Lance shouted.

Al didn't like them going through his things. He just hoped they wouldn't notice the back of his watch.

"Just a watch, keys, and a knife," The Boss said. "It doesn't make sense."

"He acted like he was! This person has to know the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Lynne said.

"Maybe he's a relative," The boss suggested, making Al gulp.

"Hey, Boss! A name is written on the back of this fancy watch!"

Al gulped. He didn't want his brother to get hurt. He just wanted him to be safe. He tried, but he failed to protect him.

There was nothing but silence. And then... "YOU KIDNAPPED HIS YOUNGER BROTHER!?" The Boss shouted angrily.

"What? But I thought his little brother walked around in a suit of armor!" Lance said.

Lynne stuttered for a moment. "H-h-h-he matched the description perfectly! Thinking back on it, he did tell me his name was Alphonse. I'm sorry, Boss. I got caught up in the moment."

"We can work with this," the Boss muttered, laughing lowly.

Fear spiked up Al's spine. What did he mean by that?

"We can?" Lance and Lynne asked at the same time.

"Go to Voris. You should be preparing for your mission. Leave this prisoner to me."

"Are you sure you'll be okay alone with him?" Lynne asked.

"Yeah, I mean, the others did a number on you," Lance added.

"Don't underestimate me and obey your orders! Go prepare for your mission. Voris has an upgrade on your weapons."

"Upgrades!?" Lance asked, sounding excited.

"Alright!" Lynne exclaimed. Their footsteps disappeared quickly, followed by the door shutting.

Once they were gone, The Boss spoke up. "Hello, Alphonse Elric. I see you've been putting on a show for my men."

"What do you want with my brother?" he asked. He was tired of being kept in the dark. All he wanted were some answers.

"Nothing, I suppose."

"What?"

"I'll want nothing more to do with him as long as you answer all my questions."

Al arched an eyebrow. "What kind of questions?"

"Mostly business related."

"You're a Drachman."

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Lynne's surname is Drachman, and all of you speak with an accent."

"Then you understand why we're doing this."

"You want to know secrets about the military."

"Well, that would be a bonus, but that's not my main goal."

"What is your main goal?" Al heard footsteps around him at different angles. He had a feeling The Boss was walking in circles around him. There was an additional clanking sound that he didn't quite recognize.

"How come you're no longer attached to a suit of armor?"

Al's breath hitched. Mustang had gone through risky lengths to keep their secret hidden away. How did this man know about that? "H-how did you-"

"Know? Well, when you start to work in the dark, you get to learn a few secrets. You and your brother committed human transmutation at a young age. The price was your body, was it not?"

Al remained silent and dodged the question. "Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking my country?"

The boss started laughing. "They trample over others without a care in the world. Your country, and the people in it, are evil. The military are just a bunch of murderers."

Al felt rage start to bottle up inside. "That isn't true. You don't know a thing about the military. We aren't perfect, and we've made some mistakes, but we are the ones fighting for peace, and you're the ones declaring war!"

"Ha! You're joking, right?"

"What?"

"Fighting for peace? Is that really the lies your country has been telling you?"

"They're not lies! We have been working hard trying to reason with Drachma! My Brother hasn't been sleeping at all because he wants to find a solution!"

"Well then tell your friends at the military to stop killing our people!"

"What are you talking about? The military hasn't killed anyone! Drachma is the one that's setting off bombs! When Amestris sent an ambassador of peace, you tried to kill him!"

The boss broke into full out laughter. "You're very naive! I can't believe your country has managed to pull the wool over your eyes so well!"

Al clenched his fists. He was sick of this person bashing his country and the people he loved. "You're being misled! The military is trying to avoid going into war with Drachma!"

"Right, right. And I suppose it was just a coincidence that when your 'ambassador of peace'. the flame alchemist came, three villages were destroyed in fires."

Al stiffened. "W-what?"

"Right. Of course your country kept that from you. Every time Amestris steps into our country, people die by the hands of alchemists. You want to do to us what you did to Ishval. You want to start a war and wipe us out."

"T-that can't be true! I know General Mustang! He wouldn't burn down villages!"

"Wasn't he used as a human weapon in the war? He was willing to kill hundreds after being ordered to. Open your eyes. That man will do whatever he is ordered to do, and so will all other state alchemists. Amestris is constantly sending in alchemists, and each time they do, people die."

Al couldn't believe it. Things were different. They had a different Fuhrer and they had been trying to avoid wars. He knew the General wouldn't do something like that. He wouldn't. "You're lying. We made mistakes with Ishval, but we have been working to rebuild it ever since. Haven't you seen all the effort and money the military has put into rebuilding it? Ishval is going back to the way it used to be. This can change. It doesn't have to be this way. Both of our countries can exist in harmo-" Al gasped as the loud sound of a gun going off echoed across the room. He felt the bullet get scarily close to him and penetrate the wall behind him.

"Shut up. Your country doesn't want that. You can't say harmony without harm, and that's how your country works. Attack us first, gain from it, and then try to make peace. I won't let it happen, and neither will the rest of us. We won't let Drachma fall." He heard footsteps and the weird clanking sound start to get distant. "I'll ask my questions later. There's too much I have to do. Besides, I don't want to be in the same room with a fool." The door creaked shut, leaving Al alone with his thoughts. "It's not true. Mustang would never do that. We haven't attacked them at all. They're lying. They have to be lying," he whispered. He felt around for the shards and got to work again. He had to get out of there and get home. He worked faster and harder. He needed to make sure Ed was okay. Now that he was found out, there was no guarantee he would be safe for much longer. He was grateful that they were occupied by breaking out a criminal than to focus on finding Ed.

After more time passed, his thoughts grew frantic as he imagined what could happen if the war did happen. "The General isn't that kind of person..." he whispered and worked harder. "It's a lie. Nobody was killed! He wouldn't do it! The Fuhrer wouldn't send alchemists to kill people!" Al's shard broke and he reached for another. "It's a lie. It's a lie!" Al bit his lip as he accidentally cut into his skin. Out of frustration, he tossed the shard away. It wasn't helping much, and he was too confused to focus on the task. After sitting still, he noticed the ache in his body. His exhaustion caught up with him and soon he was out like a light.

**x****xx**

"Wake up," Al heard someone say. They shook him gently, as opposed to the previous hard kick. He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of the blindfold still. He was getting tired of not being able to see anything. "Lets discuss business," The Boss said.

Al moved to rub his eyes, but the handcuffs restricted him. "Alright. What is it?"

"What is the next move the military plans to make?" He asked, calmer than before.

"Well, my brother has been working on that. Their next move was to invite the Emperor of Drachma to discuss peace." The boss laughed, but let him continue. "If that worked out, then they would renew the pact, and our countries would finally stop fighting."

"That's it? How about you start telling me the real details. Which part of Drachma is going to be attacked?"

Al clenched his fists. "I told you. We aren't the ones responsible for it."

"Yo-" The muffled sounds of a radio interrupted The Boss. He heard the sounds of buttons being pressed. "What is it?" The Boss asked.

"This isn't going good! We broke into the prison, but there are guards everywhere! They're chasing Lynne and Lance around to no end! I think they might be high on the wanted list!" An unknown deep male voice said over the radio.

"Damn! What's Des doing?"

"She found the hidden passageway like you said, but it's sealed with alchemy. We need an alchemist in here! She's still there and waiting for us, but we can't keep this up much longer! We need your orders! Do we retreat or kill?"

"Don't kill anyone yet!" The boss let out a heavy sigh. "An alchemist? Are you certain that you can't do it without one?"

"Yes! We tried to tear the wall down with an ax, but it didn't work! We can't get to him! Do we abandon him and run the hell out of here, or do we kill the guards so they'll get off our backs!?"

"No. Hang in there. We aren't leaving without him. I'll get you your alchemist."

"Alright! Hurry, Boss!"

The radio went silent and Al had a feeling on where this was going. "Change of plans," The Boss said. "You're useless to me. You know nothing about the attacks, but maybe your brother will. We could still go after him and use you as a hostage to get him. He'd tell us anything as long as we don't kill you, right? It would be so easy. And if he is as useless as you are with no information, I'll kill the both of you."

Al gulped. He knew for a fact that Ed didn't know anything about what they were accusing Amestris for. He couldn't let these people get away with that, and he couldn't let Ed get led into danger. "But?" Al asked, feeling like there was an offer.

"If you assist us, we will leave both you and your brother alone. We won't come after you, and we won't kill you as long as you keep your mouth shut. Soon, this will be like it was a bad dream. But if you talk, you're both dead."

Al gulped. "You want me to break into a prison?"

"Hey, we already did the hard part. They have the guards attention. All you have to do is go in, take down the wall with alchemy, rescue my men, and get out. If you do it, then by tomorrow you'll be back with your brother."

Al gulped. He didn't know if he could trust their word, but he wasn't sure if he could refuse with his brother's life hanging on the line, not to mention the lives of the guards at the prison. "How do I know you'll keep your word?"

"Because I'm a Drachman. I don't lie and deceive people like you Amestrians."

Al grit his teeth. "If you're trying to convince me, you shouldn't provoke me."

"Whatever. Do you want a bullet through you and your brother's skull, or not!?"

Al gathered up his courage. He couldn't let his brother die after all the suffering he already went through. "Not!"

"Good! Let's go!" He felt the Boss messing with his handcuffs, and his hands were free. The blindfold was untied and it felt so good to finally see again. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust, but once they did, he could see the room they were in. It looked like a warehouse room. It was big and empty with the letters G.A.G. written on the wall. He looked to see his captor. Al's eyes grew wide. He was surprised that the Boss was so young. If they weren't the same age, he was younger. He had light brown hair and the lightest shade of blue eyes that Al had ever seen. He wore a black mask that concealed most of his face, but based on his height, build and what he could see, he definitely was around his age. Why was someone so young a terrorist? The Boss untied the rope bound to his ankles. "Move your butt. We have to go now!"

Al stood up and took in the appearance of the Boss. He had his arm and leg bandaged up in a cast, and the strange clanking had been the sound of his crutches. He was in bad shape. It was no wonder he had stayed behind. He ran ahead quickly for someone with crutches and opened the door. Al followed and exited the room. He gasped as he saw the large empty hallways. He thought it was a warehouse, but it looked more like a hide out. He was led through the hall, and he constantly saw the letters G.A.G. written throughout. They passed a room that looked like an infirmary. Their group was bigger than he thought. Whenever the Boss walked by, people saluted. He was dragged outside and past an iron gate. "Do you know how to drive?" the Boss asked.

"Uh, sort of." Al had started taking lessons, but it was still very new to him.

"That's good enough for me." The Boss pushed him into the drivers seat and got into the passengers seat. He held up a gun to Al's head and turned the safety off. "Start driving."

**Updates are going to be every weekend; most likely on Fridays. Please leave a review if you enjoyed reading! TTR**


	3. Chapter 3

**Change of plans in updates. Since I no longer have an editor, updates will be randomly throughout the week. There will always be at least one update weekly. the more you know* Thanks for the feedback!**

**Disclaimer: Nope ;-;**

Ed sighed as he ran over the fingerprint results. There were no prints at all. The strange part was that not even Al's fingerprints were on there. "Someone deliberately cleaned them up," he told Mustang, who was falling asleep at his desk. Ed walked over and punched him on the head. "Wake up, bastard! We have to find Al!"

Mustang straightened up, knocking away some fliers that were scattered about. He had gone with Edward to put up fliers all over Central. It had a picture of Al on it and Ed would pay a hefty reward to the first person to bring him back alive. He returned his attention to the frustrated blonde in front of him. "I wasn't sleeping, I was simply thinking with my eyes closed."

Ed shook his head. "That's a weak ass excuse, even for you."

"Did you find anything?" Mustang asked, taking the papers from his hands.

"Course not. It's all useless junk." Ed sat down on the couch with his fists clenched. "I'm getting real damn tired of not finding anything."

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. "Sir!" Hawkeye said, barging into the room.

"What's the matter?" Mustang asked, snapping back into alertness.

"A prison 200 miles north from here has just been attacked! It appears to be that G.A.G. group again."

"They're in Amestris?" Mustang asked, tapping his pen in thought.

"Afraid so. What are your orders, sir?" Hawkeye asked.

"Show me whatever reports you've got on the members of the group," he ordered.

Hawkeye nodded and fled the room. Ed looked up at Mustang, gaining some hope. "Do you think they're involved with Al?"

Mustang continued tapping his pen. "Possibly. It's a little too convenient for them to show up again right when Alphonse goes missing."

Hawkeye returned with two files. "These are the only members that have been identified so far, sir."

Mustang took them and read over one and handed the other to Edward. Mustang read his report out loud. "Voris Burharken. Drachman. Identified as a buff middle aged man with an automail arm that can fire bullets. Is this all we know about him?" Mustang asked Hawkeye.

"Yes sir," she replied. Mustang sighed. That wasn't helpful.

Ed read his report out loud. "Lynne Kuzmin and Lance Kuzmin. Drachman twin sharpshooters that are young adults. First spotted in a town after an attack, writing the letters G.A.G. onto a civilian house. They are often seen with a... cat." The room went silent. Everyone had the same thought in mind. Ed was the first to vocalize his thoughts. "Al..."

"Hawkeye, get in contact with the guards at the prison. Tell them not to let the twins escape no matter what!"

"Yes, sir!" Hawkeye saluted and left the room again.

"What the hell are we waiting for!?" Ed grabbed onto his coat. "Let's go!"

"Hold it, Fullmetal. We have no evidence to prove that they're responsible. Also, the prison is three hours away. By the time we get there, they could be long gone."

"Then why are you just sitting there!? We've got to move!"

"And do what? Is your plan just to barge in and approach them? They're a powerful group and they're armed," Mustang reasoned.

Ed stuttered for a minute to think of a comeback. "Yeah, well, I'll uh, I'll think of something on the drive there!"

Mustang slammed his hands on his desk, causing Ed to jump. "You can't act like this anymore, Fullmetal! You're legally an adult and you don't have your alchemy to save you! You going in there would only further complicate things! Stop acting like a child! Now sit down and wait for orders!"

Ed froze and looked down at the ground solemnly. He hated it when people jabbed him about his lack of alchemical power, but it was true. Mustang felt guilty when Ed spoke: "Yeah, I get it. Everyone thinks I'm useless." Mustang was about to open his mouth to say something, but Ed cut him off. "I don't know how."

Mustang arched an eyebrow. "Don't know how to do what?"

"To sit still. To not try. To not dive in headfirst. Al's in danger, and all I can think about is rescuing him. How the hell can I sit here and wait when he could be hurt?"

Mustang was more than surprised that he was telling him this. Ed's demeanor seemed so troubled that he wanted to comfort the young man. He took a moment to think of a good answer, and Ed shifted nervously in his spot. Finally, the words came to him. "Do you trust Alphonse?"

"Of course I do!" Ed replied so fast he almost bit his tongue.

"Then trust him. Alphonse is very good at handling bad situations. You need to trust that he will be alright."

Ed nodded and relaxed a bit. He reflected on the time he had gone missing for months after getting injured in the north. Al had trusted him to be alive and kept going. Ed knew he had to do the same."You're right. I haven't even thought of it that way. I guess I really am overprotective." Ed let out a slight laugh and sat down on the couch. "This is Al we're talking about. He knows what he's doing."

**xxx**

"What the hell are you doing!?" The Boss asked as Al nearly crashed into a tree.

Al gasped loudly and backed up the car. "I don't know! I told you I only sort of knew how to drive!" Al had been taking lessons from Havoc every Saturday for the last month. Those lessons hadn't gone well. Alchemy was a piece of cake, but driving seemed so complicated.

The Boss grabbed the steering wheel with his good arm and fixed the cars position. "There, now hurry up!" He commanded, picking up the gun again. Al slowly stepped on the gas pedal. Things went much smoother as long as he drove very slowly. "You're worse than an old lady! Can't you go any faster!?"

Al shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't without crashing."

"Terrific. I should've asked someone else to drive us since you're so incompetent. I swear, on the way home, I'm getting someone else to drive."

Al glared at him, but said nothing. They drove in silence, with The Boss impatiently swinging his unbroken leg and messing with his blue coat sleeve. The small gun never left The Boss's lap. Al was nervous about the gun, but tried his best to focus on the road. He didn't know what city they were in. It looked like Amestris, but it definitely wasn't Central.

While left alone to his thoughts, he remembered that The Boss had said something else. The military wasn't his main goal for kidnapping him. Then, what was it? "Hey, uh..." Al trailed off, not knowing what to call him. It was weird enough having to refer to him as The Boss in his head, but it would be even weirder if he had to say it himself.

It seemed that the other caught on. "My name is Shura Zharkov. You can refer to me as Shura only."

"O-okay. Well, uh, Shura, there's something I want to ask you."

"Go ahead. We have all the time in the world with your driving."

Al sighed and once again pushed down his annoyance. "What did you really want with my brother?"

Shura, who had been slouching, sat up straight. "I thought I told you already." Al gasped and hastily hit the breaks as a cat ran across the street. "Are you serious? You stopped for a cat!?" Shura shouted.

"I couldn't just kill it!" Al argued. He sighed in relief when the feline climbed up a tree safely.

Shura let out an annoyed sigh. "Whatever; just keep driving!" He picked up the gun and pointed it at Al.

Al gulped and nodded, picking up where he left off. It wasn't until after Shura put down the gun that he continued. "Anyways, actually you didn't. At least, not exactly. You said knowing more about the military wasn't your main goal, but a bonus. What was your main goal?"

Shura let out a chuckle. "What's your point about it? It's not like it changes anything. You should be grateful that I'm going to let you and your brother go." Al still wasn't sure if Shura was going to keep his word, but he didn't have much of a choice to begin with. He decided to drop the subject. "Turn to your right, then go behind until you see the pathway. Don't drive in front of the prison."

Al nodded and followed his instructions. He parked the car behind a bush, where a large black van already was. He could see the back of the prison from there. He wasn't sure what he was in for, but he just wanted to get it over with.

"Here's the layout." Shura tossed him a map. Al looked at it. There were arrows pointing on where to go, and one area was circled. Shura pointed to that area. "That's where you need to go. Unseal it, find him, and get out of there as fast as you can."

Al nodded, fingers shaking as he held the map. He had never imagined he would be helping a terrorist, but there he was. He felt the cold barrel of the gun push up against his forehead. "And don't even think about running away. I'll hunt you and your brother down until the end of time if you do. Even if you kill me right here and right now. Even if you kill everyone of my men in that prison, there will always be someone after you. Maybe you'll be walking home one day, and then..." The boss pressed the gun against him tightly. "Bang." A shiver ran up Al's spine. "My group is bigger than you know, and my men are fiercely loyal, so don't get any ideas."

Al nodded, trembling. "I-I won't."

Shura put down his gun. "If you get recognized in there, you'd be considered a traitor of your country, right?" Al nodded, growing even more nervous. "I have some stuff in the trunk. Go look around and see what you can use."

"Alright." Al fumbled with the door handle. His hands shook too badly to open it.

"Move!" Shura shouted.

Al took a deep breath. His confidence returned when he thought of Ed and he pushed the door open. He slammed it shut, feeling Shura's eyes on him. He walked to the back of the car and popped the trunk open. He saw a few smoke bombs, a machine gun, a lantern, a match, a red mask, and a red and black hoodie. He took off his coat and tossed it into the trunk. Anyone in the military would recognize the symbol. He slid on the hoodie and put two smoke bombs in each pocket. He put on the mask and lifted the hood up to conceal him. 'This is for Brother, this is for Brother, this is for Brother,' he chanted in his mind.

He slammed the trunk shut and walked towards the prison. He searched around for any outside guards. Thankfully, there were none. He could hear the commotion going on inside the closer he got. He found a metal backdoor with a broken lock. he entered, and pulled out the map. "I've got to go up the stairs, then take a right," he whispered to himself. He rolled it back up and ran up the dimly lit stairs. The flickering light wasn't enough, so he carefully watched his step.

Once at the top, he reached another door. He pushed it open and immediately shut it when he heard a gun going off. "Halt! Intruder!" A man shouted. It wasn't until the footsteps passed that Al opened it again. He swiftly turned to his right and ducked down behind a wall. He pulled out his map and read his next moves. "Left, right, right," he whispered. He repeated it in his head, making sure he got it, then put it back into his pocket.

"Stop!" A man shouted. Al froze and saw a guard coming towards him. He clapped his hands and transmuted a wall between them. He took off to the left, where he ran into a female guard.

"Put your hands up!" she ordered, pointing a gun at him. Al clapped and touched the gun. It transmuted into a small bird statue. "W-what the!?" The woman said in surprise. Al pulled out one of the smoke bombs and activated it. He raced through the smoke and felt around the walls for a turn. "Right." He turned, racing down the hall. He could faintly see the figure of a guard. He slowed his pace, quietly tip toeing behind him. Once past the man and the smoke, he ran faster. "Right!" When he turned, he came across a big door. He pushed through it and paused to catch his breath. He pulled out the map. "Straight, left, left, up."

Al gasped as a female guard ran towards him. "Put your hands up!" She shouted. She pulled out her gun and placed her finger on the trigger.

"Like this?" Al asked. He put his hands high up in the air and clapped. She noticed what he was doing and fired at him. Al was too fast and dodged the bullet. Once he was close enough, he tapped the barrel of her gun. Blue lightning lit up the area as the barrel turned to face her. She instantly let go of the trigger. "What!?" She asked as she stared at her gun. Al took advantage of her confusion and slipped past her. "Sorry, but there's someone I have to protect," he whispered.

Al was about to run straight ahead when he saw Lynne run past, along with a man who looked very similar to her. There were five guards chasing them. Neither of the guards noticed him and ran after the two. "That was close." He ran, getting all the way to the left until he ran into another difficulty. Two guards were turning the corner. Right next to Al was an empty cell. Seeing no other choice, he unlocked it and slipped into it. He climbed into the bed and pulled the thin sheets over him, pretending to be a prisoner. The guards hardly glanced at him and then left. Once he made sure they were gone, he swung the bars open. 'When will this end?' he asked himself, leaning against a different cell. He jumped up when he felt someone touch his shoulder.

"Ayyyyyye, man, 'ind 'etting me outta 'ere too? I ain't do much wrong." A man asked. Al turned and saw a man in chains, leaning against the bars of the cell right next to him. Al backed away as fast as he could. "Left," he muttered, turning the corner. "Up." He looked up and saw a stair case. He heard voices and panicked. He clapped his hands, transmuting a hole in the wall. He crouched down into the hole and sealed it up.

"Where did the Kuzmin twins go?" A guard asked.

"I don't know, but we have to catch them! Those were General Mustang's direct orders!"

Al gasped. 'Mustang?'

"Do you really think they're involved in the disappearance of the Fullmetal Alchemist's younger brother?" One asked.

"Only one way to find out," the other replied.

Al felt tempted to barge out of the wall and reveal his identity. Everyone was worried for him, and he really wanted to go home. He just wanted to drink hot milk and curl up reading a good book with his brother next to him. However, he couldn't let himself be selfish. He was doing this for Ed's protection. If he left then and there, they would have to go into hiding just to be safe. They would always sleep with one eye open, and never get to enjoy the life they fought so hard to have. He wouldn't, couldn't, let that happen.

He thought for sure they were gone when he removed himself from the wall. He gasped as he saw that they were on the stair case. "Intruder!" They shouted, rushing towards him. Al transmuted a large hand and knocked one guard out, while the other raced at him. With little to no time to think, Al grabbed under the guard's arm and flipped him over. He groaned in pain when he landed on his back. "Sorry," Al apologized and knocked them out. He transmuted the ground to bind him. He knocked him unconscious. He heard voices and used another smoke bomb and ran up the stairs.

At the top, there was a long and narrow hallway. "Straight," he read his last instruction and ran down the hallway. The longer he ran, the darker it got. He lit up his lantern with the match as fear crept upon him. What kind of prisoner was he going to set free? Would they be intimidating? Thirsty for blood? Trigger happy? Maybe the second he showed up he would snap his neck for practice, or kill him slowly. Al shook his head. He was being ridiculous in letting his imagination run wild.

He snapped to full attention when he saw a female guard. She had long, wavy black hair and brown eyes. Al had to admit she was very beautiful. Still, she was a guard, and even though he never liked fighting with women, he had to. He placed his lantern down quietly on the ground. He positioned his hands ready to transmute and crept closer.

The woman turned her attention to him. "Boss?" she asked, staring at him.

Al sighed in relief and put his hands down. "I thought you were a real guard. Shura sent me."

The woman laughed. "Oh, so you're our backup! Is it just you, or did The Boss send others?"

"Only me."

"The woman walked towards him and began examining him curiously. "You got here all the way by yourself?"

"Uh, yes," Al shifted nervously as he was examined. He squeaked when she lifted his mask off. "H-hey!"

She laughed and put it back on him. "Well, aren't you something! It's too bad we have to meet under these terms."

Al arched an eyebrow. "Um, what?"

The woman laughed. "Oh, nothing! What's your name, Mr. I-got-here-all-by-myself?"

"Oh, it's Al." He didn't want to give her his full name, even though she likely already knew.

"The Boss let you go to help us?" She stared at him, then began laughing. "I don't know how he came up with that idea! Anywho, you can call me Des."

Before Al could say anything, a voice over the radio attached to Des's belt went off. "Would someone PLEASE get the hell over here!? The guards just keep coming!" Lance shouted.

Des laughed. "Looks like they need my help. Of course they can't handle themselves without me." She turned and pointed to the wall. "That's sealed with alchemy. Oliver's waiting for you inside there. Make sure to bring him back for me, okay?" Des instructed, giving him a smile.

Al gulped. "O-Okay."

"Good!" Des clapped her hands. "I wish you the best of luck! Goodbye now!" She waved at him and disappeared down the hall. Al walked towards the wall, his hands shaking again. He wasn't sure what to do. He could leave. Leave, get Ed, and escape the country. They could go to an abandoned Island and live off of the Island's resources like when they were in training. He sighed. He didn't want that. He just wanted things to go back to the way they were on Sunday. Back before everything happened. He clenched his fists. He wouldn't run away. Countless times his brother had done risky and scary things all for his sake. It was about time he returned the favor. Equivalent exchange, after all.

He clapped his hands and the familiar blue glow lit up the area as the wall crumbled down. It was dark, so he grabbed his lantern before stepping inside. He was expecting someone to start attacking, but nothing happened. He walked a bit of a ways until he ran into another wall. He made that one fall as well. He ran into about three more walls. With each one he took down, the more nervous he got. Sweat began forming on his forehead. "W-who needs this many walls to stay locked up?" He muttered, trembling slightly.

He reached the last wall and saw a cell covered by a dark curtain. "That's odd," he whispered quietly. He slowly approached the cell. He stared at the curtain for a long time, contemplating on what to do. He didn't know what to expect, but there was always fear of the unknown. He was sick of being afraid. He bit down his fear and ripped the curtain off. What Al saw disturbed him way more than what he thought he would find.

Al shivered, dropping to his knees in light of the new information. He couldn't remove his eyes from what he found. "A c-c-child?" He managed to stutter out.

In the cell was a small boy who looked no older than eight. He was curled up in a torn blanket, shivering in his sleep. 'W-why would they imprison a child?' Al asked himself. 'What's going on? What is the military doing? How could this be happening?' Al took a deep breath. He didn't know this child. Maybe they were deadly. Maybe they had committed a terrible crime.

Al didn't believe so when the boy slowly opened his big brown eyes. He yawned and pushed his short blonde bangs away from his face. When he saw Al he gasped. "Shura?" He asked.

Al slid off his mask for a second. "No. Shura sent me to come and get you. Are you Oliver?" he asked, putting his mask back on.

The boy nodded, backing away slowly. "W-what are you going to do?" he asked.

Al noticed Oliver had bruises all over him. 'What had they done to him?' "I'm going to get you out of here." Al stood up and clapped his hands. "I'm going to need you to listen to me, okay?" Oliver nodded. Al unlocked the cell with alchemy. When he got closer he saw that not only was he in bad shape, but he was also chained to the wall by his arms and legs. "What happened to you?" he asked.

The boy flinched when Al tried to take off his chains. He backed away in fear. "D-don't touch me."

Al's eyes softened. "I'm sorry, but I have to to get these off." Oliver nodded and closed his eyes. Once he was free, Al gently helped him up. Oliver wobbled, barely able to stand. "Do you need me to carry you?" Al offered.

"NO!" Oliver shouted, pulling away from his grip. He tripped and fell down.

"C-careful!" Al reached out again, but was pushed away.

"S-stay away," the broken boy muttered, shivering all around.

Al heard the sound of guards talking. "We really have to get out of here. I promise I won't hurt you. You know Shura, right? You know he wouldn't send someone bad to get you, right?" Al asked. Though, how did he know that? Shura was a terrorist, after all. Maybe he was sending the boy back to his abusers.

That didn't seem to be the case as Oliver nodded and stood up. Al transmuted a small cane and gave it to him. The boy was hesitant to take it, but realized he had no choice as he started falling backwards.

Al walked in front of Oliver and led the way out. When they escaped the opening, Al saw a guard coming their way. He clapped his hands and pinned the guard to the wall. He had to get out of there as fast as possible. Oliver limped a bit, struggling to stay upright. Oliver ran into more difficulty when they reached the stairs. "Do you need my help?" Al asked, extending a hand.

Oliver shook his head. "No."

Al saw a guard from below. The guard fired at them, but Al blocked the bullet with a makeshift transmuted shield. He clapped and shot a wooden dagger at the guard. It pierced into their shoulder, sending them backwards. He sent a fist to knock them unconscious. "Sorry, but we can't wait much longer. I have to get you out of here." Al ignored the screams and protests as he swung Oliver over his shoulder. He grabbed the cane and ran down the flight of stairs.

"Put me down! Put me down NOW!" He cried, struggling against him.

"Alright, alright!" Once Al reached the end of the stairs, he gently placed the boy down. He handed him the cane, but Oliver shook his head. He walked over to the guard who lay unconscious. "Uh-" Al froze as Oliver took the gun out of the guard's hands and pointed it at him.

"Put your hands up, Amestrian!" Oliver shouted.

Al gulped and did just that. "Uh, w-what are you doing?"

Oliver trembled as he held the gun shakily. "I can tell you're Amestrian! Y-you're an a-alchemist too! Alchemists are bad! Alchemists killed my p-parents and e-everyone in my t-town!" Oliver trembled as tears slid down his face.

Al was stunned. Everything Shura had said was true. "I-I don't know much about that. I promise I won't harm you. Please, put the gun down and think carefully about what you're doing."

"Shut up!" He sent a warning shot near Al. "I won't go anywhere with an Amestrian alchemist! I hate alchemists! I HATE ALL OF YOU!"

A guard turned the corner and saw them. Oliver turned to point the gun at the unsuspecting guard. "NO, DON'T!" Al protested. He barely managed to transmute a wall in front of the guard in time as Oliver fired a bullet that would've gone through the guards skull.

Oliver snapped back into his senses and dropped the gun, stunned. He collapsed to his knees and started crying. "Go away. All alchemists. Just go away." Al stepped towards Oliver slowly. The closer he got, the closer Oliver's hand got to grabbing the gun. "G-go away!"

Once he was close enough, Al kicked the gun away. Oliver shivered, slowly inching away while trembling. Al got on his knees and held out his hands. He clapped and transmuted a small teddy bear figure. "See this? I can only transmute if both of my hands are free." To prove his point, Al tried to transmute without clapping. Nothing happened. Oliver was puzzled and listened closely. Al extended his hand to the boy. "I understand if you don't trust me. You've been through a lot, and I'm sorry for that. I want you to hold my hand really tight and don't let go. I have to get you safe, and if you hold my hand, I won't be able to use alchemy."

Oliver grabbed the small toy. "P-promise you won't use alchemy?"

Al smiled, still holding out his hand. "Of course. We have to go, so hold on tight, alright?"

Oliver nodded and grabbed his hand. He put the toy into his pocket. Al stood up and felt around in his pocket. 'I have two smoke bombs. I have to make them count!' he told himself. He tore down the wall to find that the guard was gone. He looked around and saw nobody was around. He ran through the prison with Oliver clutching onto his hand and halted as Lynne raced through with a pack of guards following her. Al backed away, waiting until the stampede had passed. He ran through and managed to get all the way back to where he had met the creepy prisoner when three guards charged at him all at once. Seeing no way out of it, he used one of the smoke bombs. Oliver coughed and Al ran past the guards. Once away from the smoke, he checked the map.

"Right, right, left," he told himself. Oliver coughed loudly. Al gently patted his back after he put the map away. "I'm sorry for the smoke. We have to keep moving."

"Intruder!" Al gasped as a guard sneaked up on him. He got kicked in the side hard. As he tumbled to the ground, the guard lifted him up and held his arms roughly. "You've all been causing a lot of trouble! Just wait until you're in one of these cells! Then you won't need to break in!"

Al struggled to get free, but to no prevail. He could try to transmute, but Oliver was still there. He had promised he wouldn't use alchemy, and if he did get free using alchemy, he wouldn't trust him. To Al's surprise, Oliver stole the guards gun and fired at him. The guard fell back with the shot fired at his leg. Oliver shivered with rage. "The guards showed me no mercy. I'm sick of being here! They'll pay!" Oliver shouted, running in front of Al.

"W-wait!" Al followed. Oliver cleared the path for him. Each time a guard showed up, he would shoot them in the legs to prevent them from following. He handled a gun skillfully. It was both impressive and horrifying to watch. Two guards approached Oliver at the same time. One fired at him, but Oliver shot the bullet heading towards him. The two bullets ricocheted and pierced the guards shoulders.

Al was stunned. Oliver blew onto the barrel of his gun and reloaded. Al noticed his legs were trembling. He walked over and help him stand up. He noticed Oliver had made sure not to kill anyone. Oliver shivered and wiped his eyes. Al frowned and patted his head. He wondered what kind of life he had to lead to be put in a situation where he had to harm others. "Come on. That's enough." Al pulled Oliver away from the scene. They ran fast, and Al kept Oliver from falling. At long last, they were finally out of the prison. Al doubled over panting, and Oliver dropped to the ground. "W-we made it," Al panted out in disbelief.

Oliver wiped his eyes. "Thank you for saving me."

Al smiled and patted his head. "Come on. I'm sure there are plenty of people worried about you." Oliver took his hand and they made their way to the car. Al was very puzzled over what had happened. He didn't understand how Amestris could do something like that. He felt more and more like a stranger to his country. He didn't know what they were really doing, or who was right. When he got home, he would have to look into it more.

Shura unlocked the car and Oliver slid into the back seat next to Al. Al took off his mask and hoodie. "Well, I'll be damned. You actually did it. I thought you would run off," Shura said with a smirk.

"I told you I would do it. We made a deal. I did my side, so I would appreciate it if you did yours," Al said, crossing his arms.

Shura laughed. "Alchemists call that equivalent exchange, right? Fine. I'll let you go tomorrow morning." Shura then turned his attention to Oliver. "Are you okay?"

Oliver nodded, starting to fall asleep. "I am now," he whispered.

"When we get back to HQ I'll let Irina check your wounds."

Oliver nodded with a yawn. Al was surprised when he rested his head on his lap and fell asleep. Unsure of what exactly to do, he just stroked his head softly. "You're an Amestrian Alchemist. How did you get his approval?" Shura asked.

Al shook his head. "I'm not really sure how, but it wasn't easy." Al stopped his movement and looked at Shura. "Why on earth was he in there?"

Shura clenched his fists. "On one mission, he got captured by an alchemist. They went for him since he's the weakest. Your military thought he would break and spill information about my group. It took us two months just to find out he was here. By the looks of it, they tortured him a lot. Damn the military."

Al let out a deep sigh. He covered his face with his hand to prevent his tears from falling. He didn't know what to believe anymore. He knew Mustang wasn't the type of person to burn down towns, but he didn't know about the other alchemists. He was just so lost and confused. He just wished they would stop fighting. He wish his brother was there to tell him everything would be fine and that he would handle it. Al removed his hand and shook his head. He was seventeen. His Brother couldn't do everything for him anymore. At least this time he got to protect him.

Shura pulled out his radio. "Double L, V, D, mission accomplished. Stalling is over. D, second car. Double L and V, first. End it."

Al gasped at the sound of several guns going off. "I thought you weren't going to kill anyone!"

"Nobody is dead, just injured. The guards were becoming troublesome. It had to happen."

Al said nothing and looked out the window. He saw Des approaching their car. "Hey, Boss!" she greeted, sliding into the drivers seat. She turned and looked at Al. "You did it! Good for you!"

Al rubbed his neck. "Thanks." He looked out the window. He didn't feel like talking. He just wanted to go home.

"Well, mission accomplished! Now we can all leave!" Des turned on the car. "Want to wait on them Boss?" she asked.

Shura shook his head. "There's a car for the others. They'll know where to find us."

"Alright!" Des turned on the car and did a way better job at driving than Al had. Al kept his eyes out the window, absentmindedly petting Oliver's head. The drive back felt darker than the drive there. Ignorance truly was bliss sometimes. The city seemed so dull and different. He felt betrayed by the military. He knew it was bad to jump to conclusions, but there was no logical explanation for it all. Oliver's parents were killed by Amestrian Alchemists, and he doubted a little kid would go into a panic attack over something he made up. That meant there were more like him. Because of Amestris's attacks, there was no way Drachma would try to make peace. He sighed and knew the inevitable war was coming. Things would never be like Sunday.

**I probably disregarded the laws of physics at least once in this chapter. Ah, well, leave a review if you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy Valentines day, everyone! Thank you all for the amazing feedback! **

**Disclaimer: nope**

"Everyone out of the car," Shura ordered as the car stopped in front of the large secluded building. Al nodded and got out. A few seconds later, a black van pulled up next to them. Lynne and the man that looked like her got out, along with a buff man with an impressive automail arm. Shura looked everyone over. "Voris, escort Oliver and the prisoner to Irina."

"Uh, what?" Al asked. Before he could say anything more, the man grabbed his wrist roughly and took them both to the infirmary. Once in there, a young woman with short black hair and near black eyes greeted them.

"Ollie!" She shouted as she reached down and hugged Oliver. Oliver, who had just awoken not too long ago, was stunned.

Once he relaxed he smiled. "Irina! I've missed you!" he said happily and returned the hug.

Al looked around the infirmary. There were at least ten injured people. He got pulled out of his thoughts when he felt someone touch his shoulder. The nurse, known as Irina, looked him over. "Please sit and wait until I'm done with Ollie, and then I'll bandage your wounds."

Al nodded. "Alright. Thank you."

She took Oliver to a section of the room and closed the curtain. Al sat down on a small wooden stool and looked around. He sighed and closed. He didn't know what to believe anymore. The military tortured a child. That's inexcusable. Everything they said so far seemed to be adding up. He didn't want to believe it. He wanted to think differently. He wanted to find a different answer. However, the evidence was all right there. Amestris had made several bad moves.

He didn't want a war to break out. He wished he could change it, but he didn't know what to do. Al wasn't sure how much time passed as he was alone with his thoughts and trying to piece together everything. "I can see you now," a female voice said. Al looked up and saw Irina looking down at him. He stood up and followed her. While passing he saw that Oliver was fast asleep on one of the beds. "Have a seat," she instructed.

Al nodded and took a seat. She grabbed a flashlight and examined his mouth and eyes. She pulled out a stethoscope and checked his heart beat and breathing. "Please remove your shirt."

Al blushed out of embarrassment and slid off his white button up shirt. She examined him and felt around. "One of your ribs is bruised." She pulled out a bandage and wrapped it around him. She then checked his forehead. "You don't seem to have a concussion, but that wound needs to be sprayed with disinfectant." Al flinched as his wound was cleaned, but didn't make a single noise throughout the check up. She closed her medical kit and looked at him. "That should do it. Thank you."

Al was more than surprised. "What?"

"You brought Ollie back to us. My master has been worried sick about him. We all have." Irina stood up and bowed.

Al shook his hands. "Uh, that isn't necessary! I'm glad he will be fine now."

Irina smiled. "Well, we are all grateful. My master is too, even if he doesn't show it."

Al scratched his cheek. "I-It's nothing." Al grew serious and looked at her. "If you wouldn't mind, I have a few questions."

Irina nodded. "Alright. As a thank you, I'll try to answer them."

"Are the attacks on Drachma true?"

Irina grew sad and pushed her hair behind her ear. "I'm afraid so. Many people have died at the hands of state alchemists. My master has been enraged over it. I've lost a few good friends myself."

Al shook his head. "How come nobody knows about this?"

Irina shrugged. "I don't know. Amestris has kept their attacks in the dark from the public."

Al looked and saw the words G.A.G. on the wall. "What does that stand for?" he asked, pointing to it.

Irina looked to where he was pointing. "When he recruits people, my master says there's two things you need. Guns And Guts."

"I see." Al ruffled his hair. "Do you agree with what they're doing?"

Irina smiled softly. "I trust my master. He wants to save his country. Everyone here does. They're fighting back against the military because of what happened." Her eyes saddened. "Lynne and Lance, the twins, were already orphans before the attacks. Their parents died when they were young, so they lived with their aunt. Their aunt was killed in an attack. My master found them and he helped restore them. Everyone here was broken." She motioned to the wounded patients. "Everyone here lost someone they loved." She returned her attention to Al. "My master took them, and made them fighters. They're all willing to follow him for change."

"They're doing it out of revenge," Al stated instead of asked.

Irina nodded. "They're also doing it for the future. They don't want Amestris to overrun Drachma. Frankly, I would hate to see that happen."

"There has to be a different way than this!" Al protested, standing up. "There has to be something!"

"I wish there was. Drachma has been silenced for too long when they attacked us. My master is determined to make our tiny voices heard. I'll follow him anywhere, and if Amestris won't seize their attacks, then we'll attack harder. That's the belief here in our group."

Al took in a deep breath. There had to be another way. He wouldn't stop trying until he thought of one. "Thank you." As Al turned to leave, he stopped. "How come you're the only one who doesn't call him Boss?"

Irina flushed and stuttered. "W-well, I, uh, I don't know actually. It's a habit of mine."

"Alright. Sorry for asking." Before Al could leave, she stopped him.

"Wait! You must be hungry. The cafeteria is open. To get there, take a left and then go straight ahead. "

Al nodded sadly. "Thank you." As he exited the infirmary, he debated going to eat. The weight on his shoulders and the new information wasn't exactly helping his appetite, though he was hungry. He decided not to and to just find some place to crash for the night. As he turned away form the cafeteria, he bumped into the buff man from before. He was carrying a large black case in one of his hands. "S-sorry," Al apologized. He began walking but froze when Voris talked.

"Hey," Voris said.

Al looked up at him, slightly intimidated by their height difference. "Y-yes?"

"You're the one that saved Ollie, right?" he asked.

Al nodded hesitantly. "Y-yes, that's me."

To his surprise, Voris laughed and patted his shoulder. "You're a hero! I've missed Ollie so much! Thank you!" Al was stunned. Before Al could say anything, he was picked up and swung over his shoulder.

"H-hey!" Al stuttered as he tried to get down.

He was carried into a room and thrown into a seat. "The man of the hour is here!" Voris shouted.

Al sat there awkwardly as Lynne, Lance, and Des stared at him. Suddenly, they all began clapping and cheering. Des ran up and hugged him. "You little tough guy, you! I knew you could do it! The second I saw you I knew there was something about you!"

Al was being suffocated by the hug when she was pushed away. Lance patted his shoulder. "You're stronger than I gave you credit for! Sorry for all kicks and punches. You know I was just playing, right?" Before Al could reply, Lance was pushed away.

"Knock it off! He needs his space," Lynne said as she glared at the other two. She turned to face him and smiled. "As you can tell, I'm the mature one of us."

"Hey! I'm mature too!" Lance shouted.

Lynne ignored him and looked at Al. "Sorry for what I said before. And I'm also sorry about your coat."

"Oh, uh, it's fine?" Al meant to say it reassuringly, but it came out as a question due to his state of confusion. Their moods were such a turn around. While they continued suffocating him and talking all at once, Shura sat in the back of the room. His light blue eyes watched the scene with only mind interest. Al wished he could read through him and figure out what was going through his mind. Maybe then they could come to some form of agreement.

"I'm the one that stalled most of the guards for you!" Lance said, taking Al away from his thoughts.

Lance immediately got punched on the head by Lynne. "Liar! I was the one using tactics back there! You were just hollering like a maniac!"

Des waved her hand in the air. "Um, you who, I'm the one who found the entrance!"

"Stay out of this!" Lynne and Lance said in union.

"That's enough," Shura spoke up suddenly. He glared over at them. "Finish your meal and leave him alone."

There was some disappointed grumbling and then they sat back where they had been. Al stood up and started walking over to Shura when Voris grabbed his arm. "The Boss doesn't like anyone sitting next to him when he eats."

"Huh?" Al asked. That seemed like a weird thing to be cautious about.

"Yeah! He's so grumpy all of the time!" Des complained. "Just watch!" She stood up and everyone's eyes grew wide and turned their attention to her. "Hey, Boss! Mind if I join you?" She asked. She hardly got to sit down when he effortlessly pointed a gun at her. "Okay! You uh, you can think about it!" Though she kept a smile on her face, she was shivering as she backed away.

Lance was laughing and Lynne was shaking her head. Al couldn't understand why something like that would be a problem. Finally it hit him. Every time Shura had to take a bite, he had to lift up his mask slightly. He looked around and noted that nobody else in the entire group wore a mask. That meant that even his own men didn't know what he looked liked underneath. Whoever he was, he didn't want to be recognized.

Voris handed Al a plate and then walked over to Shura with the black case. "I fixed your weapon!" He popped open the case and Shura walked over to see what was inside. Al was expecting a gun, but Shura pulled out a sword. It was long and silver. The blades sides were engraved with some form of writing. Towards the gold handle part there was a circular shaped area. Shura began swinging it around with coordination and balance.

"Interesting choice of material. Does it shoot well?" Shura asked.

'Wait, shoot?' Al asked himself.

"Try it out!" Voris said, obviously beaming at the fact that Shura was taking a liking to it.

Shura aimed it at the wall and pressed down on a button on a handle. The circular area suddenly opened up and fired a bullet straight through the wall. Al's eyes were wide with both fear and curiosity. He had never seen anything like it. "Y-your swords fire bullets?" he asked in a state of disbelief.

"Everything we've got can count as a gun!" Lance said proudly, leaning back in his seat and placing his feet up on the table. "We don't have our name for nothing!"

Lynne glared at him and swatted his feet away. "You know better than to do that!" After scolding him, she looked at Al. "The boss is better with swordsmanship than with a gun."

Al took a bite out of his food. "I see."

"Good job. I hope this one doesn't break easily," Shura told Voris. He walked over to his seat and attached a scabbard to his waist. He slid the sword in and nodded. "A perfect fit."

Voris was very happy about Shura liking the weapon based about how he was smiling. It reminded Al a bit of Winry, except when her automail got broken, she only fixed it after she threw things at Ed. He sighed sadly and thought about their life in Resembool. It was temptingly waiting for them. The first two years after getting his body back had been perfect. Still, Ed couldn't turn his back on a war brewing, so they left their home. Al wished they could return home, but they couldn't with things how they were. He knew there had to be a way to get Drachma to stop attacking. Then again, he didn't even know if Amestris would stop. He didn't even know what Amestris was doing or why. The whole thing was one big mess.

"I'm retiring for the evening," Shura stated. Everyone nodded and saluted as Shura left the room. Al decided to take the opportunity and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Des asked.

"I need to speak with him." Al didn't give them a chance to reply as he followed Shura out of the room.

Shura noticed him coming and stopped moving. "I already know what you're going to ask. At dawn tomorrow, I'll drive you back to your home. There are plenty of unoccupied beds lying around here. If you do not fancy the floor, then you're welcome to use one."

Al shook his head. "That wasn't what I was going to ask. I-"

"Then don't bother me," Shura started walking away from Al.

"W-wait!" Al caught up to him. "Just listen!"

"What do you want!?" Shura snapped, turning to fully face him. "I'm tired and don't want to deal with it! We have a long ride back to Central! You can say whatever you want then!"

"But-"

"Goodnight!" Shura shouted and entered a room, slamming the door on him.

Al clenched his fists and started mumbling angrily. He was about to kick the door open, but stopped himself. He chuckled softly as he realized how much he was acting like Ed. He sighed and walked away from the door. He had to get back to his brother, and even though he couldn't tell anyone what happened, he could look into it better once he was home.

Al wandered around for a bit and found an unoccupied bed in a small room. He crawled into the bed and immediately crawled out. His body was still sensitive to certain things. Fabrics were one of them. He didn't like how rough the sheets were. "I guess I'll sleep on the floor after all." He made the bed and then grabbed one of the pillows. He sighed as he realized he forgot to get his coat from the trunk. He had been using it as his blanket ever since he got kidnapped. After shivering and searching for a comfortable position, he finally drifted off to sleep.

**Xxx**

"Where are we going?" Al asked while biting off a yawn. Des was smiling and full of energy as she dragged him through the hideout.

"We're taking you home, silly! And I get to drive so that we won't crash!"

Al was slowly becoming more alert and groaned. "He told you about that?"

"Everyone knows!" Des said as if it was something to be happy about.

"Hey, tree crasher!" Lance greeted as he walked over to him. "Or would you rather I call you cat saver?"

"I couldn't run over the poor thing!" Al defended his logic again.

"You need to take some serious driving lessons! I heard you drove slower than an old lady!" Lance teased.

Al sighed. "If you hadn't kidnapped me in the first place I wouldn't have had to drive," he muttered under his breath.

"Lance, leave him alone. We aren't supposed to be talking to him anymore," Lynne said, walking up from behind him.

"Yeah, yeah." Lance half acknowledged her presence before returning to Al. He elbowed him in the side. "Things will be pretty boring here without you! I've gotta admit, it was fun having you around to pick on!"

"I can't say that it has been a pleasure," Al replied, annoyed.

"Here," Lynne said, tossing Al his coat. Al caught it and slid it on. "Take care of yourself out there. Don't be an idiot. Come on Lance." She waved at him and then walked away.

"Don't kill yourself when you're driving!" Lance shouted as he ran away to catch up to Lynne.

"Now then, let's go! The Boss is waiting for us!" Des wrapped her arm around Al's and dragged him with her.

When they got outside, Al stopped to catch his breath. She had been ridiculously fast. "Y-you couldn't have gone slower?" He asked.

"Running fast is fun! Let's go!" Des grabbed him and pulled him over to where Shura and Voris were. Voris was messing with the engine and Shura was leaning against the car with a stern look on his face. When he saw Al approaching his look only grew more stern.

"That should do it, Boss!" Voris said as he shut the front of the car.

"Good. Thank you," Shura told him as he slid into the passengers seat. He motioned for Des to take the drivers seat and Al to get in the back. Al nodded and slid into his seat.

"Alright! Road trip!" Des exclaimed as she got behind the wheel.

"Hey Boss, are you sure you don't want anyone else going with you? We know what he's capable of," Voris reasoned.

Shura smirked and nodded. "I'm sure. He won't try anything if he loves his brother," Shura replied, glancing at Al.

Al gulped and nodded. Voris shrugged. "Okay. Take care, Boss!" He patted the roof of the car and then walked off.

"Let's go!" Des shouted and started the car. Before they could drive off, they heard someone hollering for them.

"Wait!" Oliver shouted as he approached the car.

"You should be resting," Shura scolded, rolling down the windows.

Oliver looked to Al. "You forgot your bear!" He said, taking the small figure out of his pocket and holding it out for him.

Al smiled and shook his head. "That's alright. You can keep it."

Oliver's face lit up. "Really? You mean it?"

Al nodded. "Of course."

Oliver smiled and then looked around. "W-where are you going?" he asked.

"We are taking him back to where he belongs," Shura stated.

Oliver saddened. "D-does he have to go?"

"Yes. He's not one of us." Shura rolled up the windows. "Start driving." Des nodded and stepped on the pedal.

Al shifted in his seat to look behind him. He saw Oliver waving at him. He waved back until they were too far away. They drove for a while and Al remained silent in the back seat. Des and Shura talked in Drachman so that Al couldn't understand what they were saying.

Suddenly, the car screeched to a stop. "It's them," Des said.

Shura sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "How dare they chase me."

Al looked to the front and saw a group of five men. They were staring at the car and didn't make any attempts at moving.

"I thought you paid them already," Des said.

"I did. Half of it. I just have to pick up the other half. They should know I'm good with my word."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Step out and deliver a message. Tell them I will have it for them within the next forty eight hours."

"Yes sir," Des nodded and started unlocking her door.

"One more thing."

Des looked over to him. "Yes?"

Shura glared at the men. "Teach them a lesson for following me."

"Yes, sir!" Des said strangely enthusiastically. Al stayed quiet and watched as Des stepped out of the car. Shura rolled down his window so that he could hear them.

"Hey, boys!" Des greeted, putting all of her charm into it. "My Boss has a message for you!"

"Where's the money?" One asked.

"Impatient, aren't you? You know my Boss has never let you guys down." Des wrapped an arm around one of the men's shoulders. "He will have the money for you within the next forty eight hours!"

"That's not good enough!" The man said, pushing her away. "If we don't get our money now, we will attack."

Des tapped her chin. "Well, that doesn't sound like a good idea. I can't let you go anywhere near my Boss." She stood in front of the car protectively.

"Move out of the way!" One of the men shouted, pulling at a gun.

"Do we really have to negotiate this way? It doesn't even seem like a fair fight."

"Move!" One of the men aimed for Shura and fired. Al gasped and ducked, closing his eyes. He was expecting to hear the shattering of glass, but it didn't happen. He hesitantly opened his eyes to see what stopped it.

Des was in front of the car, holding the bullet with some type of gauntlet. "I told you. I can't let you harm my Boss. Besides, you're too slow!" She threw the bullet into the man's chest, sending him backwards.

Shura didn't even seem fazed by the event. It looked to Al that he had complete trust and faith in his men. Des smiled and looked at the remaining four. "What's next?" She asked, sliding on the other gauntlet.

The other men all fired at once. Al covered his ears but couldn't remove his eyes from the scene. There was no way she could avoid all four at once. Des held one gauntlet out so that two of the bullets ricochet and grabbed the other two with her hand. Once two more men went down, she stared at the other two. She threw the bullet into one of their stomachs and looked at the other man. She walked over, smiling.

"M-monster!" The man stuttered out, backing away.

Des grabbed his hand and placed the bullet in his palm, smiling happily. "Make sure to give your boss the message for me! Goodbye now!" She said, turning away and hopping back in the car. They sped off, leaving the man frazzled.

Al was trying to process what had just happened. "H-how did you do that?"

Des glanced at him and smiled. "I never give out my secrets!"

Shura nodded. "The less you know, the better."

Al just nodded and looked out the window. He didn't know what this group was capable of, but they definitely could kill. This war had to stop. "I want Drachma and Amestris to stop fighting," he said softly.

Shura snorted. "That would be nice, wouldn't it? But it's not going to happen."

"Why can't it!?" Al asked, removing his eyes from the window to look at him. "Stop these useless attacks! I don't know what Amestris has done, but if you just signed the peace treaty, we won't attack either!"

"It's not that simple. Amestris would wait until we let go of our guard and then attack."

"You don't know what could happen!"

"And neither do you. I suppose we are both ignorant. Now, shut up." Al gripped onto his sleeves and bit his lip to prevent himself from saying something he'd regret. He just had to get home and look into it. He would come up with a solution eventually. "We're here."

Al looked around. All he could see were trees. "Uh, this doesn't look like Central."

Des unlocked the doors and they both got out of the car. Al stepped out of the car, confused. "Look at me," Shura ordered.

Al did so and gasped when a small knife cut into his cheek. "W-what are you doing!?" Al was about to clap his hands when Des grabbed them.

"Relax! The Boss knows what he's doing."

Shura removed the knife and shook the blood off of it. "I carved an X into your skin. There's an infamous group called Wissen. They work in the shadows and gather information from high level military dogs. They've kidnapped soldiers in the past before to get information and then they sell it to anyone who needs it. I myself have used their services. The victims that get away have an X carved somewhere on their body. That is your alibi. Tell anyone that cares about you that you were interrogated for information by them and let go after being dubbed useless."

Al touched the wound and winced. "Alright."

"You're in a forest on the outskirts of Central. You'll find your way back soon enough. Take this." Shura tossed him a compass. "Just keep heading north. Now, get out of my sight." Shura sat back inside the car.

Des hugged Al. "Nice meeting you!" She let go of him and got into the drivers seat. "Try not to get kidnapped by the big bad guys, okay?"

"U-uh, I'll try," Al replied, not wanting to know what other groups were out there. The car started up and Al was finally free. He had survived it. He could run to Ed and hug him. He let out a deep breath and smiled. "Just wait a little longer, Brother." He pulled out the compass and began making his journey back home.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you all for the reviews! They're really motivational. And to all my followers and other people reading this, thank you. ^^**

**Disclaimer: still not mine**

Al wiped the sweat from his forehead for what felt like the hundredth time. He wandered around aimlessly along the forest, the compass being his only guide. He wasn't sure how long it had been. The sun was now high up in the sky and the heat was getting to him. He leaned against a tree to catch his breath. "How do I get out of here?" He whispered to himself. One time when Ed had been the one kidnapped he had found his way around a forest easily. This time, however, he wasn't even sure if he wasn't going in a circle.

He smiled as he realized that Ed was still safe. Ed hadn't been kidnapped that time. He would be okay thanks to him. Ed had gotten hurt too many times, and Al wanted Ed to be able to live happily. The last few days were hard, but it was worth it if he got to see Ed smile. He knew he had to get back home to him. He looked at the compass for direction when he heard a twig snapping. Al froze and put the compass into his coat pocket. "H-hello?" he called out. When he heard no reply, he kept his hands close together.

A second later an arrow came charging at him. Al gasped and made a shield just in time. "H-hey!" he shrieked, falling backwards.

He heard someone laughing and footsteps coming towards him. "Sorry! I thought you were a deer!" Al looked up and saw a young girl with shaggy blonde hair and green eyes. She smiled and held out her hand. "Need some help?"

Al nodded and took her hand. Once back on his feet, he decided to ask her for help. "Do you know how to get to Central from here?"

She nodded. "Yeah! You just follow the-" for some reason she stopped her sentence. She looked him over, which made Al nervous. "YOU'RE HIM!" She shouted.

"H-huh?" Al asked. He had hoped he hadn't run into another person mistaking him for Ed.

"YOU'RE THE GUY FROM THE FLIERS!" she cheered as she searched her brown shoulder bag for something.

"F-fliers?" Al arched an eye brow.

"These!" She found what she was looking for and pulled out a flier with a picture of him on it. Al took it and his eyes widened as he read it out loud.

"Lost person. 5'7, blonde, and an alchemist. He loves cats. He responds to being called Al. Bring him home please. I'm desperate. The first person to bring him home will receive an award of..." Al's jaw dropped as he read over the amount. "WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE SO EXCESSIVE!?"

"If I take you home, I get all that money, right? Right?" she asked excitedly.

"U-um." Al sighed. He had to get home to Brother. "I think so."

The girl smiled and grabbed his arm. "Okay! I'll take you back there! I know these woods like the back of my hand! And, by the way, you can call me Emma!" She said proudly as she pulled him away.

Al sighed and shook his head. He would have to have a talk with his brother about his spending habits. Al got dragged through the forest and, at long last, he saw the busy streets of Central. A smile broke onto his face as he took in the familiar scenery. As he was pulled through the streets, people looked at him in surprise. Al saw that there were fliers almost everywhere he looked. He shook his head. "Brother must've been so worried..."

"Coming through! Move it! Lost person coming through!" Emma shouted through the crowds. People stepped aside and they finally made it to headquarters. The soldiers near the building looked at him with wide eyes.

"Are you Alphonse Elric?" One asked.

Al smiled. "Yes, that's me. Do you know where my brother is?"

"He's in General Mustang's office! Good to see you back!" The other soldier said.

"Thank you!" Al entered the building. Emma let go of his arm and followed him through. People were wide eyed and surprised when he walked past. He didn't stop to talk to any familiar faces. He had to get to his brother.

He reached General Mustang's office and opened the door. The second he did, Mustang woke up from a nap and straightened himself out. "I told you, I am doing the paperwork Haw-" Mustang stopped and blinked a few times. He rubbed his eyes and then stood up. "A-Alphonse!"

"Hello, sir. Is my Brother here?" Al asked, noticing the red coat on the couch without it's owner.

"He just left. I sent him home to rest. What happened? Where have you been?"

"I-It's a bit of a long story. Right now I just want to see my Brother."

"Hey!" Emma spoke up, walking up to Mustang. "I'm the one who found him! Where's my money?"

Mustang reached into his drawer and pulled out a check. "There. Thank you."

"Alright! This is going to help my family for sure!" Emma smiled. "Bye, bye, lost person!" She waved to Al and then left.

Al sighed. "Don't you think that was a little too much money?"

"It was Fullmetal's idea. I'm no stranger to the bills he has."

Al rubbed his head. "Right."

The door opened from behind him. "Forgot my damn coat," the all too familiar grumpy voice mumbled. Ed stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Al. "A-Al..." he said in shock.

Al smiled and walked towards him. "Brother!"

"AL!" Ed jumped up and hugged him so tightly he fell to the floor. "Where the hell have you been!? What happened!? Are you hurt!? Are you hungry!? Are you tired!?"

"B-brother, I can't breathe," Al told him as he tried to gently push him off a bit.

"S-Sorry," Ed got up, but still held onto him. "What the hell happened?"

Al touched the wound on his cheek. "It's a long story."

**xxx**

"We've been having problems with Wissen and numerous cases of missing soldiers as of late. I never suspected you would be their next target," Mustang said. Al had sat with the two of them, Hawkeye joining later, and told them his alibi. He made up a story about getting captured and harassed for information about the military and that they carved the mark on his cheek. He then lied and said he took two of the members out when they lowered their guard and got away. He also added in that they probably would've let him go anyways because he was useless to them. Al had been nervous the entire time telling his fake story. To his luck, nobody questioned it.

"Damn it! Why you!?" Ed asked, seething with rage.

Al's eyes soften as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Brother, I'm fine."

"But you're not in the military! Why the hell did they go for you!?" Ed stood up, clenching his fists. "I'll make those bastards pay!"

"Brother, please! I'm fine, alright?" Al stood up with him and brought him to look at him. Ed's eyes filled with a new emotion. Guilt.

"It's my fault. This damn military job is putting you in danger. We shouldn't have left Resembool." Ed looked down to the ground.

Al frowned. "It's not your fault. Besides, we had to leave to try to solve the conflict with Drachma."

Ed chuckled lowly. "Right. Drachma. You know, the other day I thought you were taken hostage by Drachmans."

Al stiffened, but decided to see what he knew. "Really?"

"Yeah, this G.A.G. group broke into a prison. We thought they might've had something to do with you."

Al gulped and then shook his head. "Well, they didn't. I'm not even sure what race my captors were."

Mustang watched the two and tapped his pen. "G.A.G. has been causing trouble for the military. I can't piece together why they would break into the prison."

"What do you mean?" Al asked, turning his attention to the General. "Didn't they have a motive? Maybe they were trying to break out a criminal." Al tried his best to sound like he was only curious and didn't know anything.

Hawkeye spoke up from where she stood near the door. "We are still looking into it, but no prisoners are missing."

Al gasped internally. 'No prisoners are missing? But Oliver was locked up!' "A-are you sure?"

Mustang nodded. "That makes their motive all the more confusing. They did a head count, and all of the prisoners are where they should be. G.A.G. only injured all of the guards and left. We are sending a bomb squad to search for explosives. If they were stalling to plant another bomb, that would make the most sense."

"It doesn't even matter. It has nothing to do with you, Al." Ed said.

Al nodded and laughed. "You're right."

Ed frowned as he studied his condition better. "Come on. I'm taking you to the doctors."

"T-that's alright. I've already seen one," Al blurted out before he could stop himself. He bit his lip and Ed raised an eye brow.

"Really? When?"

"Uh..." Al trailed off. This was why he would never be an efficient liar. "The doctor was traveling. He saw me and decided to help me for free."

"Oh." Ed seemed to be thinking. "Well, a doctor here will be better. Come on." Ed grabbed onto his hand and left the office.

Al let himself be dragged away, thankful that he could hold Ed's hand again.

**xxx**

"Hey, Al! Glad to see you back! I heard all about what happened!" Clyde said cheerfully as he took the desk next to Al. It had been four days since he turned up. It had taken a while for the dust to settle and he had to tell his lie to many people. Finally, all was well and Ed let him go back to class. The events were slowly becoming more and more just a memory. Maybe things could go back to the way they were after all.

"Hello! It's good to be back honestly," Al replied as he flipped through his textbook.

"Are you okay?" Clyde asked, taking note of his bandages. Though he sucked at some of science, and especially alchemy, Clyde was very intelligent in the medical field. He had hopes of becoming a doctor, but needed to pass his science and alchemy classes in order to do so.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

"Well, I'm glad you got out of there alive! I won't blame you if you're going to be careful from now on. But..." Clyde looked behind him and pointed to a corner in the classroom. "What's he doing here?"

Ed stood in the corner with his arms crossed and glaring daggers at anyone and everyone. The scowl on his face made him appear as though he hated life and the air he breathed.

"Who is that guy?" One of the girls asked.

"I don't know. He's kind of creepy. Maybe he's a stalker?" Another asked.

"Don't look into his eyes! He'll steal your soul!" A girl shrieked, causing the others to scream.

Al sighed and sunk into his seat. Ed didn't want him going to school without a bodyguard. Ed didn't trust anyone in the military to do a good job, so logically he would be his bodyguard. Ed only glared at their comments and said nothing.

"Class, settle down," the professor said as he walked to the front. He placed his books down and looked around the room. His eyes locked onto Ed's. "Excuse me, are you a student here?" he asked. Everyone gasped and turned their attention to Ed, eager for his response.

Ed looked at the old man and sternly said, "No."

A small glaring match between the two ensued. Everyone hung onto the edge of their seats as it carried out. Al gulped. He didn't want Ed to cause a large scene. Ed subtly lifted his pant leg to reveal the gleaming metal underneath.

"Fine by me!" The professor said with nervous dismissal to Ed. "Turn to page three hundred and twenty six in your textbooks."

Al groaned and rested his head against his book. He had to have a talk with Ed.

**xxx**

"Brother, I don't need you to protect me all the time." Al came out and said it as soon as they got home. He hung his coat onto their coat rack. The day had been beyond stressful. Al's usual friends were too intimidated to talk to him at lunch because of Ed sitting next to him. The only person who sat next to him anyways was Clyde. Even then, the two didn't get along. Ed called Clyde a dumbass, and Clyde called him an overprotective clingy nanny. Al had to pull his brother away before they could start fighting.

Ed was already headed to the refrigerator when he heard Al's comment. He stopped and looked at Al. He sighed. "I know you're older Al, but it's not a good idea for you to go without a guard. So much happened."

Al fidgeted with his sleeve. His lack of a watch made him realize that he hadn't gotten back anything other than his coat. He had been too caught up to even notice. "Thieves," he whispered.

"What was that?" Ed asked.

Al stiffened. "Nothing! Brother, I'm fine. They probably would've let me go anyways because I wasn't important to them. They're not going to come after me again. I'll be more careful. I'm not a child anymore."

Ed sighed and ran a hand through his blonde bangs. "You're right. I should treat you like your age," Ed admitted with an embarrassed chuckle.

Al smiled and hugged him. "Thank you for understanding.

Ed ruffled his hair and then suddenly flipped Al over.

Al gasped but landed on his feet. He looked up at his brother with surprise but then caught onto the idea.

"We haven't sparred in a while. Want to?" Ed asked, already getting into his stance.

Al nodded. "Yeah! I could use the practice; though we should do it outside so we don't break anything."

"You're right." Ed smirked and ran passed him. "Race you!"

"Brother! No fair! You got a head start!" Al ran after his smirking brother and was determined to win the match as payback. Equivalent exchange after all.

**xxx**

"I'm ho-" Al barely got to say anything as a suitcase was thrown into his arms. He stumbled backwards and curiously looked at the suitcase. "Uh, what's this for?"

Ed was beaming as he grabbed his own suitcase. "We're going to Drachma!"

Al blinked. "What? Why?"

Ed didn't stop smiling as he tried to slide on his coat with his suit case in his hands. "The Emperor of Drachma contacted Fuhrer Grumman. He asked the Fuhrer to decide on two alchemists willing to fight for peace and to send them to him! Fuhrer Grumman chose Me and Mustang! We get to stay at the Emperors home and try to put an end to this silly war!"

A smile broke onto Al's face. "That's amazing! But, why am I going?" he asked, holding his suitcase up.

"Because Emperor Vavilov said that we could each bring one person with us. I couldn't just leave you home after all that happened. Besides, you're better with people than I am."

Al nodded in understanding. "Alright."

Ed hooked their arms together and opened the door. "We have to go! The train leaves in half an hour!"

"O-okay!" Al ran with Ed to the train station. When they got there, Mustang and Hawkeye were already packed and had their tickets. It figures that Mustang would choose Hawkeye. "Hello Alphonse," Hawkeye greeted.

Al smiled and shook her hand. "Hello. It has been a while." He hadn't been into headquarters ever since the incident. It had been a full month since then. He turned to face Mustang. "It's nice to see you too, sir." Ed returned with their tickets and stood a little too close to Al. This made him puzzled since he hadn't been too clingy since their talk. "Um, Brother?"

Ed twiddled his thumbs and tapped his foot. He didn't hear him, so Al waved a hand in front of his face. "Brother?"

"Y-yes?" Ed asked, looking up at him. Yes, up. Even though he had grown, Al was still taller.

"Is something the matter?"

Ed sighed and looked past Al to glare at Mustang. "N-no. Everything's fine." The General looked back at him and then turned his attention to Hawkeye.

"Uh, are you and The General fighting?"

"What?" Ed shook his head. "No. He hasn't done anything to piss me off lately."

"Then what's-" Al didn't get to finish his sentence as the large train whistle echoed around the station. The second the train stopped, Ed grabbed his hand and pulled Al onto the train. "B-brother!" Al was surprised at the speed. Ed dragged him all the way to the back and only looked relieved when they sat next to each other. Hawkeye and Mustang sat four rows ahead of them. "What was that about?" Al asked.

Ed glared at Mustang. "Nothing. I just wanted to make sure we got a good seat."

Mustang heard that and turned to see him. "What's the matter, Fullmetal? Don't want to sit with me?"

Ed growled. "Hell no! I'm not going through that again!"

Mustang smirked and sat normally. Al was a bit confused about what they were talking about and then remembered. He sighed. Some things would never change.

The trip to Drachma was long, but thankfully not rough. Ed and Mustang managed to avoid any major feuds, and Ed found his new favorite thing on a train. This particular train, for some reason or another, had a library. He and Ed spent most of their time there. The days passed by in a flash, books being the only thing on their mind. They had finished the entire library by the time the train finally stopped in Drachma.

When they stepped out, Al was taking in the place. The weather was cooler than in Amestris. It felt more like fall than the summer. At the station, the posters and newspapers were written in Drachman.

"Follow me," Mustang ordered. The three followed him, trying their best not to get lost in the bustling station. They finally exited and were met with a car and a Drachman man. The car was extravagant. It was long and shiny black. The Drachman flag hung from the back. The front was adored with a gold figure of a lion.

"Welcome, honored guests! My name is Grigory. I will be your escort to Emperor Vavilov's palace. If you need anything at any moment, please let me know," the man said with a heavy Drachman accent.

Mustang smiled his signature charming smile and put on his people skills. "It's our honor to be here. I hope that, with the help of Emperor Vavilov, our countries can live in harmony again."

Grigory didn't seem to happy about that, but his smiled never wavered. "Yes, well, let us go there." He opened the back door. Mustang went in first, then Hawkeye, then the brothers. Al was impressed with the size of the car. There were still four left over seats once everyone was inside. "Is everyone situated?" Grigory asked.

They all said yes and then Grigory started the car. Al stared out the window with wide eyes as he took in the scenery while they drove by it. The houses were modeled differently than Amestris. They took the shape of a cabin but were built with bricks instead of logs. Most of the houses were tan, orange, or a light burgundy. They were all flourished with flowers or traditional Drachman decorations. They seemed to be very proud of their culture.

As the drive went on they were surrounded by shops. One Drachman furniture store captivated Al. The design of the furniture, from what he could see, was breathtaking. The other shops had other interesting things, like traditional Drachman food and Drachman clothing. "B-Brother, we get to go shopping, right?" Al asked as he got more excited.

"Of course," Ed replied, eying each food stand or restaurant they passed. "We have two weeks here."

"That long?" Al asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah!" Ed smiled. "But just don't forget we came here for a reason."

Al nodded and returned to the window. Mustang and Hawkeye were talking to Grigory, but he wasn't paying attention. He saw something repeatedly through shop windows and wondered what it was. It was a row of circular dolls that went from largest to smallest. He wanted to know what they meant.

After a while all they could see was nothing but the road and grass. After a drive up a hill, they ran into a large gold gate. The gate's open wide and Grigory parked the car. He got out and opened the doors for them. "Welcome to your stay." Al stepped out and had wide eyes. The large palace was adorned with several pillars and had vines running up the sides. The palace was yellow, but the windows were white with fancy shutters next to them. There were long stairs that appeared to be made out of marble.

Al suddenly felt very out of place as they walked up the steps. Two maids opened the big white doors for them. "Welcome, honored guests!" They greeted with a bow. The inside had red carpet. There was a wide stair case with gold stairs and white rails in the front. To one side, there was a cozy seating room with long red couches and black chairs. There was a big black coffee table with a glass top with a shelf for books underneath. To the other side, there were swords hanging on the walls. There was a large selection of books held in a wooden bookcase. There was a gold rug on the floor and a couch and smaller table with stools, likely for kids. There was a black chest that had the dolls he had seen through the shop windows.

Al could only imagine what the rest of the place looked like. He looked up and saw a gold chandelier hanging from the ceiling. All of the candles were lit, giving a nice glow to the area. "Have a seat where ever you wish," Grigory said. Ed didn't waste any time getting to the bookshelf and started looking through the selection. He grumbled, opening and shutting book after book.

"They're all in Drachman!" He said, frustrated.

"The books towards the bottom are in Amestrian. You may treat yourself to those," Grigory said. Ed wasted no time in getting on his knees and reading through the books.

Al sighed. "Brother, are you sure this is the right time for reading?"

"Hey, he said to have a seat anywhere I wanted." Ed patted the floor. "I'm sitting."

Al shrugged and looked at the dolls. He walked over to them and pointed. "I have been seeing these around. What are they?" he asked Grigory.

"Those are the Matryoshka dolls. They are also known as the nesting dolls." Grigory walked over and opened one up. He fit the others into the biggest one by stuffing the smaller ones into the ones larger to it. He closed it and handed it to Al. "The objective is to open it up until you reach the smallest one. These are very popular with children, but they also make good décor."

Al smiled. "May I?"

"Certainly."

Al sat down on the ground and began opening the dolls up. He got them all out and aligned them. "These are very cool." He held up one of the larger ones. "The designs on here are so complicated."

"Drachman artists take pride in their Matryoshka designs." Grigory turned to Mustang and Hawkeye who were sitting in the other area. "I shall inform Emperor Vavilov of your arrival. Please wait patiently."

Al put the Matryoshka dolls back and felt a bit embarrassed. He knew he had acted a bit childish, but he couldn't help it. He noticed that he found a fascination for toys or childish things. It might've been because he and Ed hadn't grown up as normal kids. They lost a big part of their childhood, but that didn't mean they couldn't act like a kid sometimes. Al walked over to where Ed was sitting and pulled out a book. He sat down on the couch and tried to focus on the pages. He couldn't and closed the book. Now that things had settled down, he wondered what they were going to say.

Emperor Vavilov had requested two alchemists willing to fight for peace. Al looked to Ed. "Brother?"

Ed didn't hear him, so Al walked over and poked his head. "Yeah?" Ed asked.

"You're not exactly an alchemist. Why did Fuhrer Grumman choose you?" he asked. Al felt guilt as he realized that what he had said might offend him.

Thankfully it didn't. "I've got the title and a hell of a reputation. That's all that matters," Ed replied, flashing him a smile as if he knew he felt guilt.

"Okay." Al was about to sit down when he looked up to the swords hanging on the wall. He studied it and noticed that the blades also had writing on the sides like Shura's. "It must be a Drachman thing," he muttered to himself.

"May I take your coat, honored guests?" A female voice asked.

Al froze. That voice sounded too familiar. He turned around and gasped. Irina stood there with her arms outstretched for his coat, but her smile faded into surprise. The two stood there, both shocked about the others presence. Al didn't know what to say. He was completely tongue tied. From her demeanor, she was too. He was, for once, thankful that Ed blocked everything out when he was studying. He wasn't sure if he could explain his behavior to him later.

"U-uh..." Irina stuttered. "M-may I have your coat?" She asked, less composed than before.

"S-sure," Al slid off his coat and handed it to her with a shaky hand. She was there back then. She had bandaged his wounds. She worked under Shura. Dread filled Al's insides as he realized what that meant.

"Welcome, Amestrian Alchemists!" A deep voice said. Mustang and Hawkeye stood up and walked to the man. Al followed. Ed quickly placed the book down and threw his coat to Irina and walked over. There was an old man with a red coat and wearing a tux underneath.

"Emperor Vavilov. It is an honor to be here." Mustang and Hawkeye bowed, and Ed and Al stumbled as they followed suit. Al normally would've been fine bowing, but he was still surprised about Irina working for the Emperor of Drachma.

The Emperor gave them the signal to stand normally. "I hope that, over the next two weeks, we can seek to better our countries."

A teenage boy began walking down the stairs. He had a black coat and wore a red shirt with a high collar. The coat had gold buttons, and his red shirt had buttons going down in a way that they clasped together. He had red pants to match and black boots.

Emperor Vavilov motioned to him as he came down the stairs. "This is my youngest son, Vincent Vavilov."

Vincent waved. "Welcome to ou-" He froze at the bottom of the stair case when he saw Al. In a terrifying moment, gold eyes met light blue.


	6. Chapter 6

** I'm so happy that my computer is being nice to me. Outside of it being slow, I can write freely. Thank you all for the reviews! This is the first time mostly guests have reviewed my story, lol. All of the followers are greatly appreciated!**

**D****isclaimer: I'm a spiritual lyrical miracle individual, but I don't own the show. **

"F-father, you didn't tell me the Fullmetal Alchemist and his younger brother were coming," Vincent said, trying to hold in his surprise. He came off as being passive aggressive. Al was as stiff as a board. He could already feel Ed's questioning eyes on him. Al studied Vincent. It seemed that his leg and arm had already healed.

"I didn't know he nor the Flame Alchemist were coming. I left it entirely on their Fuhrer. Nonetheless, we should welcome them with open arms!" The Emperor replied.

Vincent nodded. "Welcome to our home." He turned to look at Al when he said, "Let us try to get along."

Ed stared at Vincent. "Hey, didn't we meet before?" he asked.

Vincent nodded. "I believe so; when I was younger. We met on a train."

Al tried to recall the event, but couldn't. Ed seemed to and his eyes lit up.

"Wow! You really grew up!" Ed exclaimed.

Vincent nodded. "I see you have only grown slightly since our last encounter."

On reflex, Al put his arm out to block Ed from charging at him. He was glad he did, because the next thing he knew that arm was the only thing keeping Ed from biting Vincent's head off. "WHO YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE HASN'T GROWN IN ALMOST FIVE YEARS!?"

"Brother, please! Calm down! We are guests here!" Al tried to reason, even though he didn't feel comfortable being in the same place as Shura. After everything that happened, it was hard to believe he was a prince.

"Settle down, everyone." Emperor Vavilov said. He turned to look at Vincent. "Try not to stir up our guests, son."

Vincent sighed. "Yes, father."

Emperor Vavilov motioned to Irina and the other maids. "They've had a long day. Show our guests to their chambers. After they have settled in, we feast!"

"Yes, sir!" The maids replied.

"I'm excused for the meantime, am I not?" Vincent asked his father.

"Yes, but do not leave the house. We will have a welcoming dinner later." Vincent nodded and walked upstairs.

"How much food are we talking here?" Ed asked, already perking up at the thought of it.

The Emperor laughed. "Not to worry! There will be more than enough."

A maid approached Ed. "This way."

Ed walked off with the maid and Irina walked up to Al. "Come with me, sir." Al followed her and she opened a room for him. It was one of the most exquisite rooms Al had ever seen. There were several pillows on the bed, a red and gold comforter, a gold canopy, a desk, a mirror, wooden drawers laced with designs, and books. "Is this suitable?" Irina asked.

"Uh, yes," Al replied.

"Please relax and enjoy your stay. If you have any complaints, let me know."

"W-wait!" Al called out.

"I can't answer any questions for you, sir!" Irina said and shut the door.

Once she was gone, Al started pacing the room frantically. 'Shura is a prince. Why is Shura a prince? Why is he doing this? How are we supposed to make peace now? This explains why he always wore his mask! Does that mean the others don't know who he really is?' He asked himself. He sighed and sat on the bed to calm himself.

He took in a deep breath. 'What am I going to do? We came here to make piece. I already know where Shu- Vincent stands on that subject. Did The Emperor order him to attack Amestris? But that wouldn't make sense as to why he hid his identity. I'm in over my head!' Al groaned and buried his face in his hands. He desperately wanted to get help from someone. He wanted to ask The General if he knew about any of the attacks and how they could solve this. He wanted to ask his brother what he should do.

Except he couldn't. He couldn't risk something happening to either of them. He was sworn to secrecy. He had to do something about this himself. Al got up with determination and began unpacking his bags. Two weeks. He had two weeks to find some sort of compromise with Vincent. There had to be a solution to this. He wasn't going to stop until he found one. They had to find a chance to talk privately.

**xxx**

The dinner was horribly uncomfortable for Al. Across the table, Vincent ate, glaring at him. The tension between them was so strong he was almost certain anyone could feel it. Next to him, Ed shoveled down food. Al had to nudge him more than once to slow down and be polite. On the side next to Vincent, Mustang and Hawkeye sat. Emperor Vavilov sat at the end of the table. All of the servants were on standby in the other room. They each had bells near their plates. There were several empty seats due to how big and long the table was.

"Your greatness, I would like to discuss the affairs of our countries with you," Mustang said, breaking the silence.

Emperor Vavilov laughed. "What's the rush? There will be plenty of time for that later! Eat and be merry!" He rang the bell near his plate and one of the maids walked over. Emperor Vavilov motioned for her to refill Mustang's wine glass. She nodded and did as she was told before scurrying away. Mustang looked at the wine glass and returned his attention to the Emperor. "The food is very delicious, but I'm not sure how much time we can afford to waste. I know that as the great ruler you are, you want what's best for your country."

Ed snorted and tried to keep himself from laughing. Al had to admit, Mustang did know how to compliment important figures. Vincent ignored their exchange and kept himself focused on the food.

Hawkeye nudged The General. "Sir, you should enjoy the meal."

Emperor Vavilov laughed. "You should listen to the maiden! There's no harm in being joyous. We will discuss the grim subject at a later time."

Mustang smiled and picked up his wine glass. "I agree."

Emperor Vavilov turned his attention to Ed. "Young man, what is it you do nowadays?"

Ed swallowed his food and straightened up before replying. "Well, uh, sir, I normally just stay at a boring old desk and do paperwork."

This seemed to confuse The Emperor. "Really? Someone of your skill is filing papers?"

Ed nodded and shifted in his seat nervously. "Yeah, well, I actually don't have my alchemy anymore."

Both Emperor Vavilov and Vincent grew intrigued. "What?" Vincent asked, turning his attention to Ed.

Ed laughed nervously. "It's kind of a long story. I traded it for something more important." As he said that last bit, Ed looked over at Al. Vincent understood and returned to his food. His father, on the other hand, only grew more curious.

"It's possible to make an exchange to give up your alchemical power?" He asked.

Ed started talking with The Emperor and began answering questions. Al reached out to grab a piece of bread. When he did so, Vincent had wanted it at the same time. They both grabbed onto the same piece of bread. The tension grew again and that seemed to be the last straw for Vincent. He snatched the bread away from Al and stood up, knocking his bell over. Irina entered the room and froze when she saw what was going on. "Father, we don't have time for this! I agree with The General! Why should we sit around dining when people are dying!?"

Everyone grew tense and looked over at Vincent. Emperor Vavilov shook his head. "Son, you should learn to enjoy yourself. This is a start to a new future, not an en-"

"It is the end!" Vincent yelled, slamming his hands onto the table. "Have you gone mad in your old age!? Are you naive enough to think we can make peace with Amestris!? Have you forgotten what they did to-"

"Silence!" The Emperor's booming voice rang, sending chills up Al's spine. "Vincent, you are excused."

Vincent gritted his teeth and started walking away. "Coward," he whispered and walked out.

Everyone at the table remained silent. Not one person dared to start eating or to say something. Al must have looked startled because the next thing he knew Ed was patting his knee reassuringly. That calmed him down a little.

The Emperor stood up. "My deepest apologies for my son's behavior. His temper tends to get the best of him. I must go now, but you may stay and finish your meal. If you need anything, ring the bell for a servant." He bowed and then left.

"Well, this has been interesting," Mustang mumbled.

Ed laughed. "Interesting is what you'd call this? Painfully awkward is what I'd go with!"

"I second that," Al spoke up.

Ed looked at Al. "Yeah, what the hell is with you and that prince guy? Do you know him, or something?"

Al shook his head. "O-Of course not! How on earth would I meet royalty?"

"I dunno. We did meet that idiot prince Ling and that other girl Mei."

"I guess you're right." Al shifted in his chair.

"It seems to me that there is a family disagreement," Mustang said, unintentionally saving Al.

"I agree. The Prince doesn't seem keen on the idea of peace," Hawkeye added.

Mustang smirked and placed his chin in his hands. "It's an unexpected road block, but I love a good challenge."

Hawkeye sighed. "Tread carefully, sir."

Ed stood up and stretched. "Well, I'm going to go find out where I can take a bath and then go to sleep. The bed in my room looked pretty damn comfy." Ed looked at Al. "Are you okay?" Al hadn't even noticed he was staring off into nothing. Ed grew worried and poked his shoulder. "Al?"

"Y-yes?" Al looked up at him, snapping out of whatever trance he was in.

"Are you okay?"

Al nodded quickly. "Y-Yeah! I'm just a bit tired too."

"Get some sleep then. We have a long day ahead of us."

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you the one that wanted to go shopping?"

Al's face lit up. "We're going shopping?"

"Only if you're not too tired," Ed replied, ruffling his hair.

"Alright. I suppose I better get some rest then." Al smiled and bowed politely at Mustang and Hawkeye. "Goodnight!"

They wished him goodnight back and he headed to his room. On the way there, he realized how much he had to use the restroom. He looked around and couldn't find where it was. He felt too embarrassed to ask a servant, so he kept looking. He came across an open and closed door. He walked to the closed door and knocked. "Is someone in there?" he asked. He didn't get a reply. He looked to the room next to him and his entire face reddened. The bathroom was right next to him. He opened the closed door and discovered he had been knocking on a closet.

He heard someone laughing at him. When he turned to see, a young maid straightened up. "I-I wasn't laughing at you!" She defended. Al blushed even harder and ran into the bathroom. He sighed and leaned against the sink. The day just kept getting worse and worse.

**xxx**

Al tossed and turned in his bed. The clock on the dresser next to him read eleven thirty. The bed was extremely comfortable, but he just couldn't sleep. The fact that Vincent and his brother were under the same roof bothered him. He kept fearing for his brother's safety. He didn't have his alchemy anymore, and Vincent had that crazy sword that doubled as a gun.

The paranoia grew until he could take no more. He got out of bed and began wandering the halls. Thankfully, his body was still sensitive and he could sense objects around him so he didn't bump into anything. He also had pretty decent night vision. He wandered around, hearing for Ed's obnoxious snoring. When he heard it, he followed the sound. He reached Ed's room and quietly crept inside. He knew what a light sleeper Ed was. It was mostly because he was always on edge. After all, he had almost gotten assassinated in his sleep once.

He clapped his hands as quietly as he could and sealed the windows in Ed's room shut.

"Al."

Al froze and felt like a mouse being caught stealing cheese. He hesitantly turned to face Ed. Ed held his arms crossed, his automail leg glimmering in the moonlight. He wore boxers and a black tank. His blonde hair was out of it's ponytail, and concern was etched onto his face. "U-uh."

"What are you doing?" He asked, stepping closer to him.

"N-nothing! I-I was just..." Al once again knew he was a bad liar.

Ed walked over to the window and felt around. "Alchemy? Why did you seal the windows shut?"

Al stiffened and struggled on what to say. "W-we're in Drachma. Y-you never know if s-someone will try to, uh..." Al's mouth went dry. He didn't even want to think of his brother being killed.

Ed smiled. "Oh Al, you don't have to worry. Emperor Vavilov has plenty of guards. Besides, you know I can take care of myself!"

Al nodded. "You're right. It was silly of me. W-well, goodnight then!" Al tried to sprint out of the room when Ed grabbed his arm.

"Al, are you hiding something?"

"M-Me? No, no! I'm just, a little on edge here, I suppose. It must be because of all the Drachman attacks, haha... ha."

"Al." Ed's grip tightened and he turned Al to face him. "Don't hide things from me. I can tell when you're lying."

Al sighed. His brother had to be smart at all of the wrong times. "It's nothing, Brother."

"Aren't you the one always telling me not to say something's nothing? Why can't you tell me?"

"Goodnight, Brother." Al felt bad as he shook his hand free. Before Ed could stop him, he shut the door. He turned and clapped his hands, sealing it.

"Damn it, Al! Open it!" Ed demanded, knocking on it.

"Brother, everything will be fine. I promise. Goodnight." Al walked away, fighting back tears. He didn't like shutting Ed out like that. They told each other everything. It was an unwritten rule they had, and he broke it. Now that his windows and the door were safely shut, Al could at least relax knowing he was safe.

Al walked into his room and sealed his own door and windows shut. After that, he slid into his comfortable bed. He sighed and buried his face into the pillow. He just wanted everyone to be okay. No more fighting. No more killing. He just wanted it to all stop. He knew that Ed would question his behavior in the morning. He had a feeling he wouldn't back off until he got an answer, either. He tried to keep his eyes open in case something happened, but the soft bed lured him into sleep.

**xxx**

Al woke up with a start when he felt something cold on his neck. When he looked up, Vincent was hovering over him, holding his sword to his neck. "Come with me and don't make a sound."

Al nodded and looked to the door. It was open. He was certain he had sealed it shut. Vincent removed his blade from his neck and Al got out of the bed. Irina was there and motioned for them to follow her. He quickly put on his coat. They exited the palace and went out into the courtyard. Vincent pulled out a key and unlocked the gate. He pushed it open slightly and Irina and Al ran through it. He closed it and locked it again.

There was a car already prepared. "Get in the back," Vincent ordered. Al slid into the back seat, Irina got into the driver's seat, and Vincent was in the passenger seat. Irina started it up and began driving.

"Where are we going?" Al asked.

"To the truth. You have way too much faith in your friend General Mustang. You have faith in Amestris as a whole. It's about time you see what's really happened." Al gulped when a bag was tossed into his hands. "There's your shit." Al gasped as he saw that his wallet, watch, and house keys were there. "We forgot to give that back to you. I was going to mail it anonymously, but I suppose I won't have to anymore."

"Thank you," Al said with gratitude. Vincent shrugged and kept his eyes on the road. Al stared out the window. He knew for a fact that he had sealed his door. How did Vincent get in? That meant Ed wasn't safe after all. He buried his face between his knees the entire car ride. After what felt like eternity, they stopped. "Get out. Irina, stay here."

Al stepped out and got dragged roughly by Vincent down a path. He stopped and held a lantern up. "We're here."

Al gasped and dropped to his knees. In front of him was a destroyed town. There were transmutations of various weapons and things all over the place. Houses were nothing but charcoal and debris. People's bodies were rotting and becoming more of a skeleton. Some were burned beyond recognition. He placed a hand over his mouth, trying not to throw up.

"You see this? This is the reality. This is what your military has done."

Al held back his vomit and shakily stood up. He walked around, examining the horrid scene. He gasped as he saw a doll half burned and a small decaying hand clutching onto it. He covered his mouth again, eyes wide. They widened more when he saw something stuck under a piece of debris. He walked over and pulled it out. In his hands he held a piece of blue fabric. The same color of blue as the military uniforms. "N-no." Al fell to his knees again, clutching the fabric. "This can't be. T-this can't be." Teardrops dripped onto his hands as his body shook. He just couldn't believe it.

Vincent walked over and stood next to him. "This is one of many. When your Flame Alchemist friend came, houses were burned down from left to right. There isn't a trace of those towns left. This is the only one that wasn't completely burned into nothing. This happens every time you step foot into our country. I won't let it happen anymore." Vincent grabbed Al by the arm and forced him to stand up. "I won't let this go. This cruelty, this unjust slaughter, I can't forgive it."

Al wiped away his tears, but his legs were still trembling. "I-I don't know what to think. S-still, we could put a stop to t-"

Vincent pulled out his sword at Al. "That's naive! You see it now! The people of Drachma, they don't want peace! They want revenge for those we have lost because of your people! We can't make peace!" Vincent trembled before calming. "There will always be hatred among mankind. We each fight for something we believe in. I believe in my country. If I have to pull the trigger to defend it, so be it." He kept his sword out and looked Al straight in the eyes. "I won't let it fall."

Al glanced around the gruesome scene. He clenched his fists and bit his lip. He took a shaky breath then stood his ground. "I believe in peace."

Vincent seemed annoyed. "You're kidding, right?"

Al shook his head. "No. What Amestris has done, if they did it, it's truly horrible. It's unforgivable. Many people have died. Still, if this war happens, even more people will die! I know General Mustang isn't the type to kill people. I know him, because I believe in him. He wants peace. He wants a better future. He isn't the type of man to do this. I believe in Fuhrer Grumman. He wouldn't order this! I believe in my brother! I believe in the state alchemists! I believe in my country too!"

Vincent stood shocked as he took in the information. Al looked at him with full determination and unwavering faith. Vincent started laughing and put his sword away. "E-even after all this, you still don't agree with me." He continued laughing and dropped to the ground.

"Someone wants this war to happen."

"What?" Vincent asked, starting to calm himself.

Al slid off his coat. He turned it around so that the back was showing. "I'm sure you remember seeing this torn. Lynne cut through it for me to use when I made a mess. If you don't believe me, ask her. It's fine now because I fixed it with alchemy. My brother's old red coat had gotten destroyed a hundred times. The reason he still had it is because all he needed was fabric and he could transmute a new one. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for alchemists that can destroy a town to recreate Amestrian uniforms."

"What the hell are you getting at?" Vincent asked, standing up.

"You can say I'm grasping at nothing in blind faith in my country, and that's fine. Still, it's too convenient that this was left behind." Al held out the piece of fabric. "I'm sure state alchemists wouldn't have gotten their clothes torn by the house they destroyed themselves. The fact it was there in a place where it wouldn't blow away is too convenient. Also, a while back, I went through all the prison files. Oliver was never listed. Even the military didn't know he was in there."

Vincent took the piece of fabric. "T-that's stupid. How do I know you're not lying? We have no proof that Amestris didn't do this!"

"I didn't just sit doing nothing for a month," Al said. "I broke into the Fuhrers office. I researched the days Drachma was supposedly attacked. Each and every state alchemist had a report for those days. Nobody was in Drachma."

"You did what?"

"Listen. I think there's a third party involved in this. They want our countries to go to war. They must be the real ones behind this. They organized it so perfectly that everyone was deceived. I don't know if it's true, but I'm sure that if we work together, we will figure it out."

Vincent shook his head. "How do you know those reports weren't fakes? How do you know your Fuhrer isn't covering it up?"

"Because I believe in him."

"You're stubborn. You want me to work with you? Please," Vincent scoffed.

"I'm asking for two weeks of your time. Please. Give me that long to prove my theory. If there is someone else, Amestris and Drachma can work together to put a stop to them. After that, we can have peace again."

Vincent squeezed the handle to his sword. "And if your theory is entirely wrong and Amestris really is responsible for everything?"

Al's eyes saddened. "Then I can't stop whatever happens next."

Vincent sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"You have a lot of people. I'm not sure where to start, but with your group, I'm sure we can find out what's going on."

"Alright. So, let me get this straight. I work with you, we capture the people who are "really" causing this, and I get my father to make peace. What's in it for me?"

"What do you want?"

Vincent tapped his foot for a moment and looked at him. "I needed your brother for something, since, from what I heard, he was mostly responsible, but that didn't work out. Now he doesn't even have his alchemy anymore. I suppose you might know how to do it."

"How to do what?"

Vincent was silent for a moment. "You wanted to know what my main goal was, right?"

Al nodded. Vincent took a deep breath and said, "I want to know how to perform human transmutation."


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you everyone for the kind feedback! I'm trying to keep my updates fast just in case any computer problems happen.**

**Disclaimer: All these disclaimers yet you still claim to not be my girl.**

Al took a few steps back, already feeling nauseous. He stared at Vincent, wondering why he would want such a thing. "W-what?" he asked, once he remembered how to use his voice.

"I need to know how to perform human transmutation. Rumors are, you and your brother are the ones that got the closest to it. It's just missing something, right?" Vincent asked, unfortunately dead serious.

Al saddened and looked down. "We weren't missing something. It was impossible from the start."

The silence stretched between them. Vincent's eyes were wide, clenching and releasing the handle to his sword. "What?"

"It can't be done. Once someone is dead, nothing can bring them back. I'm sorry. If you attempt it, you'll only lose more. I lost my body, and my brother lost his arm and leg. You already know this. We didn't fail. We didn't make an error. Our only error was that we tried to play Gods. We tried to bring someone dead back to life. That was our mistake. We are humans. We don't have that kind of power. No matter how much research, no matter how many attempts throughout human history, we just can't do it. What you will bring back won't even be the same person. We were foolish, and it took years of hardship to go back to our normal lives. Even now, I still remember the hard days. How it was like to not be able to sleep at night, to not smell or eat foods, and to watch my brother's body grow weary and I not feel a thing. Forget about human transmutation. It's a horrible way to cope with the loss of a loved one."

Vincent trembled as he pulled out his sword. "You're lying! It has to work! You're keeping the secret to yourself, aren't you? You and your brother don't want anyone else finding it! What do you want for it? Money? That's so selfi-"

"I wouldn't lie about this!" Al raised his voice. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "It would be best if you forgot you even heard about human transmutation. If you go through with it, something horrible will happen to you."

Vincent stood there, taking a moment to think it through. He laughed and shook his head. "I spent a long time searching for your brother, only to be told it's fiction. That's hilarious," he chuckled.

"A-are you okay?" Al asked, taking a step forwards.

"I don't know. To be honest with you, I'm not sure how to take this!" Vincent laughed a moment longer until he looked down. "I should've known better."

Al frowned. "You couldn't have known. My brother and I didn't know until years after we committed it. During that time, we thought we had made an error. We thought we weren't smart enough. We thought... that we killed our mom a second time. It wasn't even her after all."

Vincent sighed. "I won't do it. I have too many people relying on me for me to go get myself killed."

Al nodded. "Good."

Vincent let out a slight laugh. "Besides, even if I did do it, she would hate me for it."

"Is it alright for me to ask who?"

There was an awkward silence, and Al regretted asking. He knew he had to learn to control his curiosity. To his surprise, Vincent spoke up. "It's not important."

Al nodded. "Alright."

_**xxx **__**(flashback time)**_

_ "Class, this is Vincent Vavilov, son of Emperor Vavilov," an old lady said as she motioned to a __ten__ year old Vincent. Every kid in the class had wide eyes._

_ "Why is a prince here?" One of the boys asked._

_ "He's not what I thought he would be like," a girl whispered._

_ Vincent sighed. He was hoping to not get special treatment._

_ "Class, settle down," the teacher ordered. She smiled at Vincent. "Your highness, you may sit right there," she said, pointing at a desk in the front that was already taken._

_ "What? But this is my desk!" The boy, whom was sitting on it, protested._

_ "You will sit in the one in the back," the teacher ordered._

_ "This is so unfair!" The boy complained as he gathered his things. He got up and motioned for Vincent to take his seat._

_ Vincent walked past him to the desk in the back. Everyone gasped and stared at him. "I don't care where I sit. This is suitable enough."_

_ "That's generous of you. If you need anything at all, let me know."_

_ Vincent rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "__Alright__." Vincent turned and saw a young girl with long brown hair in a braid sitting in the desk next to him. The lay out of the classroom was oddly put so that the two desks in the back were a good distance from everyone else's desks. She smiled at him and waved. He didn't say anything and pulled out his books, praying that his father found __a suitable teacher__ soon. __He had to be at a local school while his father found new teachers. His other teachers didn't teach what his father wanted him to learn. He wanted __him to study more advanced levels of education__. __Even though being home-schooled was boring, he preferred it than to be sticking out like a sore thumb. __Yet, there he was, forced into a local school for maybe months. _

_**xxx**_

_Vincent sat on the bench alone as he watched the other kids play __at recess__. He had tried to join in, but they got tense around him. He decided not to ruin their fun and to only watch. He scribbled down notes from the previous class when he felt movement. He turned to see the girl __from the class__. "Why aren't you having fun?" She aske__d as she fixed her braid._

_ "I am, in my own way," he replied._

_ "Can I see?" She asked, motioning to the notes. Vincent shrugged and handed them to her. She read them over. "I don't like math."_

_ "My father says math is important to know." Vincent took back his notes and shut his notebook._

_ "Do you like math?" she asked, tilting her head._

_ "I loathe it. But, if it makes father happy, I'll do it."_

_ "That's boring." The girl swung her legs back and forth on the bench when her face lit up. "I know a fun word exercise we can do! Want to do it?"_

_ Vincent arched an eyebrow. "What is it?"_

_ "What you do is I say a word, then you have to find a word within the word!"_

_ "That sounds confusing."_

_ "It's really easy and fun! For example, butterfly! That has two words you could use! Butter and fly! If the word you choose doesn't have a word in it, or if you take too long to reply, you lose!"_

_ "Who made up that silly game?" Vincent asked._

_ "My kindergarten teacher," she answered._

_ "It sounds like it's for little kids. I don't want to play a childish game."_

_ "Swing."_

_ "What?"_

_ "You have three seconds to come up with something!"_

_ "U-Uh, wing!" Vincent stuttered._

_ She smiled. "See? It's fun!"_

_ "That's not fair. I didn't want to play. It's too easy anyways."_

_ "Well, we can use harder words. Your turn."_

_ Vincent groaned. "I told you, I do not want to pla-"_

_ "You're running out of time!"_

_ "I'm not playing!"_

_ "One second!"_

_ "Philosophy."_

_ "Is Phil a word?"_

_ "Yes. It's an Amestrian name, I believe."_

_ "Alright!"_

_ Vincent sighed. "Are you always so forceful?"_

_ "I'm not forcing you."_

_ "Yes you are!"_

_ "Nope." She shook her head. "If you didn't want to play, you could've walked away."_

_ "I like the bench."_

_ "There are three more benches."_

_ Vincent sighed and pushed his brown bangs out of his face. "You're not bothered by the fact that I am royalty?"_

_ She tilted her head. "Why would I be?"_

_ Vincent pointed over to the other kids. "The rest are. I'm never a normal kid. I can never just blend in."_

_ "I think you're normal."_

_ Vincent was surprised. "Really?"_

_ She nodded. "Yeah! Oh!" She held out her hand. "My name is Sashura, but you can call me Sasha."_

_ "Defender of mankind."_

_ Sasha tilted her head. "What?"_

_ "That's what your full name means."_

_ "Really? That's so cool! You know a lot about names!"_

_ Vincent shrugged. "Not really."_

_ "You're Vincent, right?"  
_

_"Yes." _

_ "What does your name mean?"_

_ Vincent traced his memory. "To conquer." _

_ "That's cool too!" The bell rang, interrupting their conversation. Sasha smiled and grabbed his hand. "Let's go! We get to learn about alchemy today!"_

_ "B-but I already know alchemy."_

_ Sasha's eyes widened. "Really? Can you show me?"_

_ Vincent shook his head. "Now is not the appropriate time."_

_ "Will you show me later?"_

_ "Fine."_

_**xxx**_

_"Master, are you sure this is okay?" Irina asked. Vincent walked the streets of Drachma with a black mask on. He wore a blue coat and kept the hood up._

_ "I haven't had time to freely enjoy my country. I hope this disguise keeps me hidden."_

_ "What if you are recognized?" Irina asked with worry.  
_

_ "I won't. We both know it's Macarthius who deals with most of the public affairs." Vincent stopped in front of an old book shop. "I want to go in here."_

_ Irina nodded and opened up the door. Vincent sighed. "If you do things like that, it'll make me look suspicious."  
_

_Irina was about to bow, but stopped herself. "S-sorry! Uh." She shut the door then backed up behind him._

_ Vincent readjusted the hood and opened the door. A little bell rang when he stepped inside the place. There were shelves stacked with books. There were wooden tables and chairs with some people sitting down to read. Up ahead, an old man sat half asleep at the register._

_ He approached the man and knocked on the desk to wake him up. C-can I help you?" The old man mumbled out._

_ "I want to know if you carry a certain book. It's called..." Vincent sighed and tried to hide his blush underneath his mask. "Loves true insight."_

_ "Oh! That one! It's very popular among the ladies."_

_ Vincent sighed. "Yes, well, do you have the book or not?"_

_ "I just sold my last copy to that young woman over there." He said, pointing at a girl that was sitting down with said book open._

_ Vincent walked over to her. "Excuse me, but would you be willing to part with that book? I'll pay you double what you paid for it."_

_ "I don't want your money. I've been waiting to get my hands on-" she looked up and froze. "Vincent?"_

_ Vincent cursed under his breath. He had been recognized. Still, who called him by his first name? He studied the teenage girl. He gasped when he recognized her brown braided hair. "Sashura?"_

_ "VINCENT!" She exclaimed, jumping up._

_ "SHH!" Vincent said, along with other people._

_ "It's been so long! You've grown a lot! You're really tall now!" She said, standing on her tippy toes to be on eye level with him._

_ "Let's talk somewhere else." Vincent motioned for Irina to wait there and dragged Sasha outside of the book store. They stopped when they reached a garden with camomile flowers. The cold air blew past them as they sat down on a bench near the flowers._

_ "How have you been? How old are you now? I've heard about you on the radio and I've seen you in the papers! You've really grown into the princely type!"_

_ "I've been well. I'm sixteen." Vincent took off his mask. "How did you know it was me?"_

_ "Your eyes. I may have only your voice and black and white photos to go by now, but I remember thinking your eyes were super bright when we were kids!"_

_ Vincent sighed. "Then this disguise isn't going to work out."_

_ "Oh, I think you'll be fine! I doubt anyone that didn't know you personally would be able to tell."_

_ "What about enemies?"_

_ Sasha frowned. "You have enemies now?"_

_ "Some, I suppose. Amestris and Drachma haven't been getting along."_

_ "I heard state alchemists attacked a village."_

_ "Yes. They killed many."_

_ "That's awful. What are you going to do?" _

_ "Make peace, of course. This isn't the first struggle we have had with them. We had a pact once, and I believe we can have it again. If we can get them to renew it, all will be well," Vincent said with a smile._

_ "I want peace too!" Sasha smiled. "How's your family?"_

_ "My father is well, and Macarthius is hardly there as always," Vincent sighed._

_ "What's wrong?"_

_ Vincent looked over at the flowers. "Macarthius is older than me. He is the first born. Father dotes on him. He loves us both very much, but lets face it. Macarthius is going to be the one that shapes this country the most." _

_ "You don't think you'll be able to do that?"_

_ "I'm the second born. It's not likely that I'll change much."_

_ Sasha lightly punched his arm. "You still down talk yourself. You're a great person, and great people do great things. I just know you'll help Drachma in ways no other leader ever has."_

_ Vincent's eyes widened. "Do you truly believe that?"_

_ "I believe it because I believe in you." She smiled._

_ Vincent chuckled. "It's been so long, yet you're still the same."_

_ "Is that a bad thing?"_

_ "It's an excellent thing."_

_ Sasha smiled. "We should catch up. Why don't you come over one day?"_

_ Vincent raised an eyebrow. "Really?"_

_ "Yeah! I bet my family would love to meet you. I used to talk about you all of the time!" _

_ Vincent tapped his foot for a moment. "How about you come to my palace?"_

_ Sasha's eyes grew wide. "Really? When?"_

_ "Now."_

_ "B-but I'm not properly dressed! I-"_

_ Vincent grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "You're fine. My father and Macarthius aren't even home anyways." _

_ "A-alright. I've never been to a palace before! Lead the way!" Vincent met back up with Irina. People stared at him since he no longer wore his mask. He hardly cared about the crowd that started forming as they got into the car. Irina drove off and they started heading back to his palace. Sasha smirked and poked his arm. "So, how come you wanted this romance novel so badly?" She asked, flaunting the book. _

_ Vincent blushed. "I-It was for my school curriculum!"_

_ "Heh. Alright. Whatever you say." _

_**xxx**_

_"__Hey, how about we play that old word game?" Sasha asked. She sat on the floor in Vincent__'__s room as the two of them put together a complex puzzle. __They had been seeing each other once a week for the last __month._

_"__Right now? We have been working on this puzzle since your last visit. I had to tell the maids to not clean the floor of my room. __I__'ve __stepped on it twice.__"_

_ "Oh, __but w__e can take a little break." _

_Vincent sighed. He knew he couldn't say no to her. "Alright." _

_ "__Inutile," she said._

_ "Tile." Vincent thought for a second. "Adumbrate." _

_ "Dumb."_

_ "H-hey!"_

_ Sasha chuckled. "You're the one who picked the word." She thought for a moment. "Approbation."_

_ "Bat. Cacophony."_

_ "Phony. Conundrum."_

_ "Drum. Credulity."_

_ "Lit. Harmony."_

_ "Harm." Vincent paused._

_ Sasha tilted her head. "Is something wrong?"_

_ Vincent shook his head. "No. I just... never noticed that."_

_ "It's ironic, isn't it?" _

_ "__Yeah." Vincent frowned and picked up a puzzle piece. "Can we get back to this?"_

_ "Alright."_

_There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Vincent instructed._

_Grigory entered the room. "Master, it is time for your fencing lessons."_

_ "You take fencing!?" Sasha asked excitedly._

_ "I have since a young age."_

_ "You're always full of surprises."_

_ "Maybe." Vincent stood up. "I'm afraid it's time for you to leave."_

_ "Alright. I'll see you next week." She walked over to Vincent and hugged him. He was surprised, but hugged back. When they parted, she looked up at him. "Actually, how about you come over for dinner tomorrow? My family still wants to meet you."_

_ "Tomorrow?" Vincent looked at Grigory. "Do I have anything scheduled for tomorrow?"_

_ "Only your violin lessons in the morning."_

_ "Perfect!" Sasha smiled. "I'll tell my parents you're coming over. How's six?"_

_ "Six is fine. I'm honored that you're inviting me."_

_ Sasha picked up her bag __and pulled about a piece of paper. She scribbled her address down and handed it to him. __"Alright. Goodbye until then."_

_ "Farewell." _

_**xxx**_

_"__Master, what does this girl mean to you?" Grigory asked as he drove to the address. _

_ Vincent fiddled with the piece of paper that had her address on it. "She's my first and only friend. Make a left here."_

_ Grigory nodded and turned the car. "Don't forget she's only a civilian."_

_ "Why should that matter?" _

_ "Your class ranks are very different. Be careful."_

_ "I have nothing to worry about." Vincent flipped the page over and gasped. His entire face heated up. _

_ "Is something the matter?"_

_ "N-no! J-just a bit hot."_

_ "It's Drachma. It's cold almost all year round."_

_ "Mind your business." _

_ Grigory nodded. "My apologies."_

_ Vincent stared at the three little words she had written on the back of the page. "__I love you," he quietly read out loud. _

_Suddenly, the car came to a screeching stop. Vincent flew forward and bumped his head on the seat in front of him. "Ow! What are you doing!?"_

_ "Master, we have to turn around!"_

_ "What!?" Vincent looked up and gasped. __In front of them, a village was being destroyed from left to right. Men in blue uniforms __were using alchemy __and cruelly slaughter__ing __people. "O-Oh my god." Grigory started turning the car around. "No! Go back, damn it! That was her village! I have to save her!"_

_ "It is my duty to protect you! I cannot let the prince get killed!"_

_ "STOP THE CAR!"_

_ "I won't let you go back there!" Grigory sped up until the village was out of sight._

_ "I can save her! __It's my duty as a prince to protect my people! Why the hell won't you let me do my duty!? She's back there, damn it!" _

_ "__Mind your language! __You have to live on! You're the prince!"_

_ "Shut it! You will still have Macarthius!" Vincent opened the car door._

_ "Master, don't!"_

_ He jumped and rolled down the road. Outside of a few cuts and bruises, he was fine. He slid on his alchemy gloves and clapped. He transmuted a sword out of ice and headed back to the town._

_**xxx**_

_"N-no," Vincent dropped to his knees. It had only taken him a few minutes to get there. When he arrived, everyone was dead, and the Amestrian alchemists were gone. "Y-you've got to be kidding me. Please, let this be a joke!" Vincent stood up and ran around. "SASHA! SASHA! WHERE ARE YOU!?" He ran, frantically shouting. He panted and felt tears brimming at the edges of his eyes. He came across a man who had been stabbed through the heart. The man weakly reached out to him. Vincent got on his knees next to the man. He took his hand, knowing any medical help to him wouldn't work. He squeezed tightly, bowing his head. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry I couldn't save you. Do you know of a Sashura? Is she okay?"_

_ The man pointed over to a pile of rubble. Vincent gulped and slowly walked over to it. He trembled as he started removing some of the rubble. "S-Sashura?" he hesitantly called out. He started to get some hope as he didn't come across a body. He came across a piece of wood that had a number on it. "1014. This was her home!" Vincent dug around. He pulled out the body of an old woman and man. "Please, please be alive. God, please!" _

_ He dug through the entire pile and didn't find her body. "She's out there. She survived. She's going to be okay." Despite the gruesome scene, Vincent smiled briefly in blind hope. It didn't last for long. He walked past the scene and gasped loudly. He dropped to his knees, every inch of him shaking out of anger and horror. "N-no."_

_ In front of him, Sashura was covered in blood. She hung off the branch of a tree with a rope tied around her neck. A wooden spear was stuck through her body, cut straight down her stomach. Blood pooled around the ground. Written in her blood on the tree were the words "surrender". _

_ Vincent couldn't tear his eyes away from the gruesome scene. He couldn't get his muscles to move and was too incoherent to form a sentence. "A-Ah..." he cried hoarsely, trying to get his vocal cords to work. He wanted to scream. He wanted to go on a rampage and kill the people responsible for this. Finally, he gained control of his voice. "AAAAHH!" _

_ He punched the ground hard with his sword, breaking it. "Fuck peace, fuck peace, fuck peace! Fine, Amestris! You want war? You're going to get it! I won't surrender! I won't!" It took a minute for Vincent to calm down. He stood up, showing no emotion, and walked over to her. Using one part of the ice blade, he cut the rope off. She collapsed to the ground. He transmuted a sturdier ice shovel and began digging. Once a hole was big enough, he carefully pushed her dead body into it. He sealed the hole and patted it down sturdily. He collected grass and camomile flowers. He placed them over the pile and bowed. He quietly prayed and turned away. The man he spoke to earlier was dead. Everyone was dead. Nobody survived._

_ He saw Grigory standing near the entrance of the town, looking like he'd seen a ghost as Vincent approached. He noticed he had gotten blood and dirt all over his clothes and face. "They knew," was all Vincent said as he walked to the car._

_ Grigory slid into the driver's seat. "Master, are you alright?"_

_ "They knew!" he shouted and ended up coughing. "T-they knew she was close to me. They left that message for me."_

_ "How would they know?"_

_ "I don't know! But they knew and they..." Vincent choked on his words and looked out the window. "I won't let Amestris win." Grigory started the car when Vincent heard something. He climbed out of the car. "M-master!"_

_ Vincent followed the soft crying noise he was hearing. "Wait here!" Vincent followed the sobs but the track went cold when he entered the forest. "Hello?" All there was was silence. Vincent sighed. "I heard you already. It's too late to suddenly go silent on me. I won't hurt you. Were you from Svidaniya village?" _

_ "Y-yes," a small voice replied. Vincent looked up and saw a young boy on a tree branch. The boy had thin blonde hair and massive brown eyes. He stared down at Vincent in fear. _

_ "What's your name?" Vincent asked._

_ "O-Oliver Rebenok." _

_ "Get down from there. Carefully."_

_ "No."_

_ Vincent sighed. "I don't have time for this. I am Vincent Vavilov, prince of Drachma. There, see? You can trust me."_

_ "Y-you're lying."_

_ Vincent clenched his fists. "Listen, kid. There's a lot going on right now. I need your testimony. Now get the hell out of that tree before I shake you down!" _

_ "You're wearing blue!" Oliver shrieked._

_ Vincent froze. "Why does that matter?"_

_ "T-the men that killed my parents wore blue!"_

_ Vincent sighed and took off his dark blue coat. "Those were Amestrian military uniforms. This is only a coat. What happened?"_

_ Oliver clung to the branch while thinking about it. Tears dripped onto his shirt. "My mom and dad were making dinner, then these alchemists tried to kill them! They told me to go hide in the forest! They're dead now!"_

_ Vincent gritted his teeth. He sighed heavily then looked up at Oliver. "You were strong enough to survive."_

_ "I'm not! My parents are dead because I ran!"_

_ "Hush up. There's not much that a child your age could've done. You still survived. You're a survivor. If you want to be strong, you can be." _

_ "H-how?" _

_ Vincent held his hand out to him. "Join me. I'm not going to let Amestris beat us."_

_ "Join you?"_

_ "Yes. We will start a rebellion. You can become strong. We can fight back. Are you good with any weapons?"_

_ "I-I had a toy gun."_

_ "I'll get you a real one."_

_ "No! I don't want to do bad things!"_

_ "Master!" Grigory shouted as he approached him._

_ "I told you to wait in the car!"_

_ "What are you doing?"_

_ Vincent crossed his arms. "Trying to get this child out of the tree. He survived. I can use him."_

_ "What to you mean by that?"_

_ "I'm going to form a group. I'll gather survivors that want to fight back. We will beat Amestris, and they will pay for what they've done." _

_ "You're not serious, are you?"_

_ Vincent glared at him. "This needs to be done. I'm through letting my country be trampled over like dead flowers!"_

_ "You can't become a terrorist! What would your father think?"_

_ "You're not going to tell him!" Vincent ordered. "He can never know. I'm going to handle this. He would surely be against it if he knew. That fool still holds onto peace." _

_ "Which is why you shouldn't do this! And you're trying to recruit a child? Have you gone mad?"_

_ "I'm not mad! This child survived! He's tough! He's no ordinary child! He can be useful! His parents were killed! Why deny him the chance of revenge?"_

_ "Revenge isn't a path worth following!"_

_ "Save your deep philosophy for somebody who gives a shit. This is the real world, and in this world, only the strongest survive." _

_ "Listen to yourself, master! He's only a boy! He can't-"_

_ "I want to join!" Oliver shouted, climbing off the tree. "Everyone's gone. My mom, my dad, my dog, everyone! The big bad guys did it! I... I want to help fight them!"_

_ Vincent walked over and patted Oliver's head. "We will. Come on." Vincent motioned for Grigory to lead them back to the car._

_ "You're making a mistake, master. I fear how you will go down this path."_

_ "Shut up and do as you're ordered."_

_ **xxx**_

_ "It's so big," Oliver stated as Vincent led him into his large manor in the mountains. It was used for family vacations that they hadn't taken since he was a boy._

_ "It is. It's perfect," Vincent said as he started the fireplace. "You can stay here for now. I'll search around for other survivors. We will train, eat, and sleep here. It'll be our hideout. It's secluded, and there are plenty of things to hunt. We will grow as a group, and we will be able to branch out to Amestris as well." It had been two days since he met Oliver. He kept him at the palace until he came up with his plan. They then made their way to his home high up in the mountains._

_ "Master," Irina spoke as she approached him. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"_

_ "Yes. I am." Once he was done with the fireplace, he pulled out a notebook. "I made a list of all the recently attacked areas. You're going to come with me, and we will search for survivors. We can't force them to join us, and I would want their undying loyalty. It'd be best if they knew I wasn't a prince." _

_ "How will you hide your royal blood?" Irina asked._

_ "I could say I found this house on a hunting trip as a young boy and that is was abandoned by the Vavilov's. I'll wear my disguise all the time so I won't be recognized. I can't do much about my eyes, but hopefully it'll be enough." Vincent looked to Oliver. "Don't tell anyone who I am, okay?"_

_ Oliver nodded and yawned sleepily as he curled up on the couch. "Okay." _

_ Vincent stood up. "Let's go."_

_ Irina nodded and held up his coat. She helped him put it on. "Are you sure you want to do this?"_

_ Vincent tied his mask around his face. "I can't let this go on." He walked towards the door as he slid his gloves on. "We will get strong. We will fight back. The future begins now."_

**xxx**

Vincent glared at Al. "Since you want my men to work with you, and since you can't give me what I want, I believe it would be best to settle this with a duel."

Al gasped. "What? But I don't want to f-"

Vincent pointed his sword above his ear. "You're going to have to fight. If I wanted to, I could cut that ear of yours clean off right now." He put his sword back and unhooked the scabbard from his waist. He grabbed a pair of gloves from his coat pocket and threw them on the ground too. "No alchemy or the use of weapons. It would be rather difficult to explain the death of either of us. The first to get knocked down loses."

Al wasn't sure how he felt about all of this. "And if I win?"

"Then I'll let you join G.A.G. and you can use my men however you see fit. Be it understood I'm still in charge. If you join, you'll be working under me."

"I understand. And if you win?"

Vincent smirked. "You get the hell out of my country."

Al nodded and got into his stance. "Then I better win this. I don't want to leave until our countries get along."


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry for not updating last week! I had a lot of homework to get done before spring break. This week has been pretty busy too, but I canceled going to the mall today so I could stay home and work on this. The last thing I want to do is get behind like I did with HC. Anyways, on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, but an X looks like four triangles. I had a character named X. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I, I think it's pretty clear whats going on here. (Illuminati)**

Al and Vincent stood across from each other on edge. The cold air blew through them and the moonlight illuminated the scene. Vincent was seething with anger, whereas Al was full of determination. Thanks to he and Ed's spars, he hadn't gotten rusty on hand to hand combat. It also helped him to not rely on alchemy for everything. He was determined to win this fight, or else everything would go downhill.

Vincent was the one to make the first move. He flew towards Al, nearly landing a solid punch. Al skidded backwards and steadied himself. He aimed a kick towards Vincent's torso, but Vincent saw it coming. He jumped over his leg and tried to kick him in the face. Al ducked hastily and was about to clap his hands, but he stopped himself just in time. Instead, he used his outstretched hands to grab a hold of Vincent's leg and flip him over.

Vincent, though surprised, positioned himself to land on his feet. He jumped away from Al and chuckled. "I can tell this isn't going to be easy."

Al smirked. "I told you. I'm not going anywhere until our countries are at peace."

"You know, I'm really getting tired of you holding on to peace!"Vincent once again tried to punch him, but Al parried the attack by grabbing onto his wrist. Vincent struggled to get free, but managed to by using his other hand to push Al away hard. Al let go and took a step backwards. He had little time to react before Vincent swung his fist down on his head. It would've hit him if Al hadn't gotten lucky and tripped on a piece of rubble. When he collided with the ground, he used the opportunity to roll away from Vincent.

Once he was standing properly, He scanned through all of Vincent's actions. He noticed how he was mostly using his fists. He assumed that was due to the fact that he was skilled with a sword. It also gave Al an advantage. It meant that when it came to his legs, he would be less skilled. Al had to take what he learned and use it to his advantage.

Al was prepared to drop kick Vincent when someone shouted "Wait!" Since he was already in the air when it happened, Al came crashing down onto his face.

"I told you to stay back in the car! Why can't anyone listen to that order!?" Vincent shouted.

Al sat up and rubbed the sore spot on his face. He looked over to see that Irina had been the one to shout at them.

"Forgive me, Master, but we have to get you both back to the palace!"

Al rubbed his face and walked over to them. "How come?"

"We aren't finished here yet!" Vincent told her.

Irina sighed. "Master, The Fullmetal Alchemist is awake and knows Al isn't in his room. I heard from Grigory over the radio. He has woken up your father as well, and now your father is wondering where you are."

Al sighed. "Brother, why?" He whispered. He then remembered what he had done. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense! I sealed the door and windows shut! How did he get out?"

Vincent groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "It's my fault. I got you and your brother's guest rooms mixed up. I didn't open the door because Irina stopped me from entering, but I did undo your alchemy."

Al shook his head. "Oh dear."

"Master, your father is very worried, and The Fullmetal Alchemist has already woken up the other Amestrian guests. If I don't get both of you back soon, they will send a search party after you."

"Damn it! But we had a duel to finish!" Vincent explained.

Irina let out an annoyed sigh. "Master, please! You should be worrying about how you're going to explain your absence, not some petty duel! I'm going back to the car. Get your things and let's go!"

It seemed Al wasn't the only one surprised by Irina's temper. Vincent seemed shocked. He thought it over and nodded. "Fine. I understand." Irina walked away, leaving the two of them alone again. Vincent walked over to where his sword was and put on his scabbard. He grabbed his gloves and placed them in his coat pocket. "This duel didn't turn out the way I had hoped. I suppose I shouldn't complain, since it is my fault for making such an error."

Al frowned. He and Vincent had gotten so close to making an agreement. Then, a light went off in his head. "You know, there is another way we can solve this without fighting."

"Oh yeah? How? All of my ideas involve blood."

Al rubbed his neck. "T-this is going to sound stupid, but it won't get us injured. A-and we could do it right now."

"What is it?"

"Rock paper scissors."

Al regretted even suggesting the childish idea as Vincent looked at him as if he had gone mad. Neither of them said a word for a long time. Al was about to say he was joking when Vincent broke the silence. "Alright."

Al raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what?"

"I said alright. It's not like we have much of a choice anyways. The matter still stands. If I win, you get out of my country. If you win, you can join and use G.A.G. We will play only one time. Do not beg for two out of three."

Al wasn't sure if he was serious, but when Vincent got his hands ready for the game, he knew he was. "O-okay!" Al put his fist in the palm of his hand.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" They shouted in union. When they got the results, Al couldn't help but smile.

"Paper beats rock."

Vincent cursed and sighed. "I'm pretty sure a rock could destroy a piece of paper. This game has no logic!"

"Yeah, but I still won," Al said, failing to hide his happiness.

Vincent sighed. "Yeah, you did." He took a few steps forward and looked over his shoulder at Al. "Let's go. We have people waiting on us for an explanation." There was the sound of thunder and then it started drizzling.

Al gulped. He knew how bad he was at lying, but he hoped that, just once, he could do a decent job. "Right."

**xxx**

"Alphonse!" Ed shouted as he raced towards his younger brother. Al, Vincent, and Irina entered the palace drenched with the newly fallen rain. Mustang and Hawkeye stood up from the couch they were sitting on and watched the scene. The Emperor, Grigory, and a few servants and maids came rushing towards them.

"B-brother..." Al looked down to his feet, not sure what to say.

"My son, do you know what time it is? Why scurry about at such a late hour?" Emperor Vavilov asked as he approached Vincent.

"I'm not blind to the clock, father. I'm aware of my own actions."

"What were you doing?" He asked.

Vincent looked his father dead in the eye and said, "We had an encounter with a stalker."

Everyone, including Ed, turned their attention to Vincent. "A stalker? What ever do you mean?" The Emperor asked.

Vincent pointed at Al, causing him to stiffen. "When he got off of the train, he had been noticing a suspicious man watching them. Throughout the drive here, he saw the same man tailgating them. Earlier tonight, he had seen the man from behind the gate, watching our palace. Our guards never took notice of him. Concerned for he and his brother's safety, he went to Irina and told her about it. Irina then told me, and we went to find the man ourselves. Isn't that right, Alphonse Elric?"

"Right!" Al felt less nervous. He was glad that at least one of them could lie.

Ed grabbed Al's arm. "Al, why didn't you just tell me?"

Al frowned. "Because you have so much on your mind, Brother. I didn't want to worry you. I didn't even know if I was being paranoid or not until I saw him at the palace. I'm sorry."

"Al! I don't give a damn about what's on my mind! If you're in danger, come to me!"

"I'm sorry, Brother."

Ed crossed his arms, studying Al carefully. Al tried his best to look convincing. There was a spark behind Ed's eyes. It was something that seemed as though he was trying to put together pieces of a puzzle. "You can't keep things like this from me."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I promise I'll come to you for now on."

Al's conscience was yelling at him for lying to Ed. He hated having to do all of this. Before Ed could reply, The Emperor spoke up. "And you, son, why did you not tell me of this?"

Vincent was silent for a moment, and then looked down to the ground, shivering either because of the rain, or to make his performance more believable. "B-because I thought you were still mad at me," he said in a frail voice, tugging at his father's heart strings.

The Emperor took the bait and patted both of his shoulders. "I can never keep anger held against you!"

"Thank you, father," Vincent said, lowering his head, but Al caught the smirk. He was very manipulative.

Emperor Vavilov turned to look at everyone. "I apologize for the disturbance, but it seems that all is well. Let us go rest until morning breaks."

Vincent nodded and headed up the stairs, followed by a few servants. A maid approached Al and beckoned him to come with her. Al looked over at Ed, Mustang, and Hawkeye. Ed seemed still worried, Hawkeye seemed mildly concerned but alright, but something in Mustang's eyes made him nervous. He felt like Mustang was trying to read through him. His dark eyes were analyzing him carefully as if he could see through every lie. Feeling strangely exposed by him, he bid them all goodnight and went with the maid.

**xxx**

Al woke up to the morning sun shining brightly through his room's windows. He yawned, stretching his arms out, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He rubbed his eyes and searched for the clock. He gasped when he saw that it was almost ten. He all but tore through his pajamas and put his clothes on. He ran out of the room to try to find where everyone was and apologize for oversleeping.

"Hello?" he heard a familiar voice call. He turned to see Irina and smiled.

"Hello. I'm sorry for sleeping in."

Irina shook her head. "Oh, it's quite alright. Even the young Master isn't awake yet. Breakfast is being served in the dining hall. Would you like me to escort you?"

"If it's not too much trouble."

Irina nodded and led him there. When they arrived, Mustang and Hawkeye were the only ones around.

"Good morning, Alphonse," Hawkeye greeted as he took a seat next to her.

"Good morning! Uh, where is Brother?" he asked as he started filling his plate with the food that was laid out.

"Sleeping. I heard his snoring from a mile away," Mustang told him. Al had to suppress a chuckle. Mustang looked across the room and didn't see a maid or servant. His voice got low and he turned his attention to Al. "So, what really happened last night?"

Al dropped his fork and he looked up at the two. Mustang was glaring at him, whereas Hawkeye just seemed worried. "Nothing really. Just a stal-"

"Alphonse," Hawkeye interrupted, concerned. "It's alright. Whatever is going on, you can come to us."

Al sunk into his seat. He hated having to lie to them when they clearly weren't convinced. He knew he couldn't tell them what was really going on. Al bit his lower lip and stood up. "I have to use the restroom."

"Alphonse!" Mustang tried to get his attention, but Al was too busy running away. He kept his eyes on the ground, not wanting to face anyone. That didn't work out too well for him because the next thing he knew he was bumping into someone and falling to the ground with them. "I'm sorry!" Al apologized as he looked to who he had dragged down. He gulped when he saw Vincent sprawled out on the floor, looking extremely irritated.

About three servants came over to help them up. "Master, are you alright?" "Is everything okay?" "Is anything broken?" The three said at the same time.

Vincent pushed them off. "I'm fine!" he glared at Al and Al bowed his head.

"I'm sorry! I should've watched where I was going."

Vincent dusted off his clothes. Vincent fixed his red suit he had on and readjusted his black tie. "It's fine. I can't hold anger against an honored guests."

"You'll have to excuse me. I need to go wash up," Al bowed again and left for the restroom. He leaned against the sink, splashing water on his face. He gripped the edges of the sink, trying to calm his nerves. Mustang would hopefully be too busy with The Emperor to interrogate him more. He just had to get through breakfast. He also wanted to know when he would be able to go to G.A.G. He dried his face and stepped out of the bathroom. He saw Vincent standing there with his arms crossed. "Hello," Al greeted.

Vincent grabbed his arm and led him up the stairs. "W-where are we going?" Al asked. They entered a room that was much larger than his guest room. It had a huge bed with a canopy, two dressers, a small chandelier above, a shelf full of books, and another room that looked like a connected bathroom. There was a large circular rug on the floor that had a Drachman symbol on it. There was a wooden vanity with a huge mirror to the side with drawers and a wooden chair underneath it. There was an elaborate desk piled with text books in the corner with a big leather chair to sit on. Vincent led him through the room and opened up two white doors with linen curtains covering it. Al was led out to a balcony with porcelain rails. He gasped as he saw the scenery. Since the palace was on a hill, the view looked out at the grassy plains up into the blue sky. There was a cleared dirt pathway for driving or walking. Flowers were being grown all around and shimmering in the sunlight. "Wow," he muttered.

Vincent turned and shut the doors. "Here, we can talk privately."

Al nodded and sadly pulled his eyes away from the scenery. "Okay. What is it?"

He pointed to the left. "Look closely over there."

Al walked to the edge of the railing and gasped. In the distance, he could see huge mountains tinted a blueish gray. The sun gave them a glow as though they were a painting. "Amazing!" he said with admiration. He always loved being able to see things so clearly through human eyes, and scenes like this were his favorite. He was certain that Vincent hadn't brought him up there just so he could see the scenery. He was about the ask what it was about when Vincent spoke up.

"G.A.G.'s main headquarters is located on a mountain. It takes two hours to reach the mountains by car, and another hour of hiking to reach the manor. That's three hours to and back. Outside of today, we will leave early in the morning, and return late at night. My father believes I'm using the manor as an orphanage for young survivors of the Amestrian attacks. He's not aware of what's really going on, so I am able to spend as much time as I wish 'helping children'. You, however, have to convince your brother and the others that you want to work with the kids as well. After all that's taken care of, we will head out. Understood?"

Al nodded. "Alright. What about when you get injured? How do you explain that to your father? And how do you explain going to Amestris?"

Vincent let out a slight laugh. "Macarthius, my older brother, has been trying to get assassinated since he was a young boy, and I as well. I just tell my father that I encounter terrorists that are after killing the prince. If you get injured, I can just say that you helped me in one of those fights. As for traveling, I tell him it's for educational purposes."

Al had to admit he had thought everything out. With Mustang and Hawkeye questioning him though, he wasn't sure if he could convince them. He decided to stand his ground and try anyways. "I understand."

"Good." Vincent opened the doors. "Let's go to breakfast. I'll tell them that I think you'll be good with children and ask for your help. Pretend to know nothing about it."

Al nodded. "Okay."

**xxx**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ed asked as Al put stuff into a small shoulder bag to go to the 'orphanage'. It had been easier than he thought to convince them that he wanted to go with Vincent to help children.

"Why wouldn't I, Brother? You know how much I love kids."

"Yeah, but..." Ed trailed off, a pout forming on his lips. Al knew what he was thinking. Ed wanted to spend time with him and explore Drachma together. Al did really want to check out the shops, but he knew this was more important.

"Brother, we can always visit again. I'm sorry for leaving you alone like this, but you should be working with Mustang on talking to The Emperor about peace. If I get on good terms with the prince, that might be able to help."

"Yeah, you're right." Ed kept his gaze onto a loose string on his trench coat. "What do you think the prince guy meant by the orphanage being a place for kids that survived attacks? What attacks?"

Al shrugged, pretending to be oblivious. "Oh, I don't know. Perhaps attacks from other countries."

Ed nodded. "Yeah."

Al walked down the marble steps to the gate and saw Grigory and Vincent from behind the gate, waiting for him. Ed tailed along behind Al. "I'll see you later, Brother!" Al took a step forward, and Ed took one too. "I know you'll do great, Brother. Bye!" Al took two steps, and Ed took two steps too. Al sighed and turned to face him. "No, Brother, you can't come with me. You're needed here."

Ed made an odd noise that was a mix between a grunt and a squeak. He sighed and ran his now flesh right hand through his golden bangs. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I have to do the boring political stuff."

Al chuckled and patted his shoulder. "You can get through it."

Ed pouted and nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He looked up at Al. "Be careful out there, okay?"

Al smiled. "I will. I promise."

Ed nodded and patted his shoulder before walking up the stairs. Al walked through the gate and gave Ed a final wave before getting in the car. Vincent was in the passenger seat, like always, and Grigory was behind the wheel. Al briefly wondered how many of Vincent's servants knew about G.A.G..

The drive was already boring. Al had taken with him a small bag with a water bottle, an alchemy book, a notebook, and a knife he slipped in when Ed wasn't looking. He pulled out the book and notebook and began studying away. The time flew by when Al was shaken from his notes. "Get out of the car. We're here."

"O-oh!" Al said, surprised. He placed his things back into his brown bag and swung it onto his shoulders. He climbed out of the car and shut the door. Vincent patted the top of the car and Grigory drove away. Al gasped loudly as he looked at the incredible mountains. The mix of light to dark grey with some white was incredible. It was extremely large and Al felt like an ant in comparison. There was a large forest to the side, shrouded in mystery. "Amazing!" Al exclaimed as he ran up to touch the rough mountain edge.

Vincent shook his head. "Follow me."

Al nodded and was led onto the mountain. There seemed to be a natural path through the mountain that led upwards. Al hiked happily as he took in everything he came across. He wasn't sure where they were going, but he was happy just being on the mountain. It was starting to get colder in Drachma, and the mountain itself felt cold, but he loved it. Once he came down from his excitement, he noticed Vincent had put on his mask and sword. They walked in silence, but Al felt like he should say something about the other night. "Vincent?" he asked.

"What? And call me Boss or Shura here." Vincent replied without stopping or looking back at him.

"Uh, alright. Shura, are..." Al trailed off, trying to find the proper words to use without offending him. "Are you alright about uh..."

Vincent stopped and looked at him. "What?"

"I mean..." Al rubbed his neck. "Last night. About human transmutation. Are you okay with giving it up?"

Vincent looked out into the mountain in thought. He sighed. "I'll admit. I don't want to give it up. I want to keep trying, but I know I can't." He gripped the handle to his sword. "I'm not stupid. I know when I have to accept the reality. In G.A.G., we've survived so far by not ignoring the downside, but embracing it. Whatever happens is going to happen. We might die, we might not succeed, we might lose people, and we all know this. We accept it, so that if and when it does happen, we can keep moving. I did the same with human transmutation. I saw the warning signs. I know it's taboo. I always knew that it might have been a lost cause... but I had to know for sure. I wanted to be absolutely certain before closing the book on it. That's where you and your brother come in. I just... wanted to know."

Al nodded in understanding, feeling bad for him. He and Ed had seen the warning signs as well, but weren't strong enough to give it up. Vincent sighed. "I have my men. I have people depending on me. I can't get myself killed, not until I get revenge on Amestris for killing someone I loved. I have a goal, and I'm not letting myself die until it's complete. I know human transmutation is too dangerous and could get me killed. You're not even the first person to plead for me to give it up. You're the third, actually. It took a while to finally stick, I suppose."

Al nodded, and they didn't say any more. It made sense to Al. The reason Vincent was so against peace was because his desire for revenge was too strong. In their youth, human transmutation kept he and Ed moving. For Vincent, his revenge is what's keeping him from crumbling. He's clinging to it like a shield, because without it, he wouldn't have any reason to keep fighting. Al knew they weren't bad people, they just had different motives. Both of them had a different view on what was the right thing to do, but in the end, they were both human, and both fighting for something they believed in. They were seen as evil from Amestris, as was Amestris viewed as evil by Drachma. Being a good person didn't mean anything if they didn't stand for something. They both stood for something else, and in a sense, were both good to that cause.

"Hey," Vincent said, pulling Al from his thoughts.

"Yes?"

Vincent motioned to the mountain they were on and the other mountain across from them. "We have mountains all over Drachma, especially on the edges of the border. In the old days, armies from other countries would try to invade Drachma. We are now known for our mountains and rough terrain, but back then, they didn't know what they were in for. By the time it was snowing, it was near impossible to try and get past the mountains and terrain into Drachma. Drachma couldn't be invaded, and they froze to death or turned back. Our nature protected us. Sometimes I wish that our mountains could protect us as much as it used to, but they can't because transportation keeps improving. If it could, we might not be having this problem with Amestris right now."

Al frowned and looked at the mountains. He couldn't find the words to say. He too wished that the mountains could've been a shield against whoever was responsible. After more hiking, they started going up faster. He gasped when he saw the top of the mountain. It was like a hidden green valley at the top. In the middle was a gigantic manor hidden away from the world. He skidded onto the green grass. There were makeshift shooting ranges made with targets attached to trees. Al looked down from where he stood and saw a large forest with a beautiful creek flowing. In the pristine waters, it reflected the mountain off of it. He was a bit scared to fall off, so he backed away from the edge. Some unfamiliar faces were practicing shooting bow and arrows and guns at the targets. When they saw Vincent, they stopped and saluted. Vincent nodded at them and walked past. When the got to the entrance of the manor, Al stood for a moment, taking it in.

There were so many windows that Al couldn't count them all. The manor was a light gray color, blending in perfectly with the color of the mountains. Moss ran up the sides of it, and there was a large tower above it with people keeping watch. A broken fountain that was dried out was to the left and had a target on it as well. Vincent opened the gray door and faced Al. "Welcome to G.A.G. Headquarters."

**I know some of you might want to punch me for the fight scene (or lack of one). I was struggling with it, and just decided to take the comedic route. Please leave a review if you enjoyed. They're always appreciated! Until next time! ~TTR**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you everyone for the feedback! I'm so glad nobody killed me over the fight scene so that I could write this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: The RoyEd pairing totally should've been called Red. **

Al walked inside the big manor in amazement. Al was led into a room to the side. It had a big coffee table with books on it, a few couches, and a fireplace with erupting warmth flicking in the corner. There was a candle that made the room smell of cinnamon. Vincent turned and was about to tell him something when tiny footsteps were heard. In a flash, there was a loud meow, and a cat was attached to Vincent's face. Al recognized the cat immediately as Rascal.

"Get off!" Vincent yelled as he grabbed it's orange fur and threw it at the wall. Rascal clung to the wall with it's claws and slid down, shredding the wallpaper. "Damn hair ball!"

"Impressive throw, Boss!" A cheerful familiar female voice said. Des ran over and picked the cat up.

"What the hell is it doing here!? Are the twins back from Amestris!?" Vincent asked, irritated.

Des snuggled the small kitten. "Not yet! They asked me to take Rascal with me because they still had some 'bang bang' stuff to finish!" Des glanced at Al and then gasped. "W-what are you doing here, Al?"

Vincent roughly grabbed Al's shoulder and pushed him in front of him. "He's joining. This idiot thinks he can prove that Amestris isn't responsible for anything."

Des laughed hysterically. "That made my day! Thanks for the laugh!" Al sighed and Vincent just crossed his arms and told her to be serious. Des walked over to Al. "Good luck with that, tough guy!" She patted his head. "It's good to see you again! What are you doing in Drachma anyways?"

"Vacation," Al said in a half truth. He knew he couldn't give away who Vincent really was.

"Oh, really? How did you guys meet up again? Did you just bump into each other on the streets?"

"Something like that," Vincent answered for Al.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Boss? I mean, he is an Amestrian, after all! What's your plan with him?" Des asked as she cradled the sleeping cat. Al had to use all of his self control to not take the cat from her and love it forever.

Vincent readjusted his mask. "He's going to be one of us and try to prove his theory. I'm assuming he has a better plan than that, but he is working under me."

"Really?" Des smiled and clapped her hands together. "Awesome! That means we will get to see each other a lot! Won't that be fun, Al?"

"Uh, I gu-" Al didn't get to finish as two boys he had never seen before with bow and arrows came running over. They looked to be fourteen at most.

"Hey Boss, what's for lunch?" The boy archer asked.

"We've been working since morning! I'm starving!" The other added in.

Vincent looked over at Des. "You haven't cooked anything?"

Des laughed and rubbed her head. "Yeah, well, you see, the thing about that is that we're out of meat. We have to take a hunting trip."

"Hunting!? Do we get to go?" The two archers shouted excitedly.

Vincent looked at them and nodded. "You two take the north of the forest and hunt for Elk."

"Alright!" The archers cheered.

Vincent turned to Des and pointed at her and Al. "You two pair up and get the fish and rabbits."

"M-me?" Al asked, nervous after not hunting in years. Before Vincent could answer, a girl approached, talking in Drachman. Vincent answered her back in the foreign language.

Al noticed that one of the archer boys was eying him. "Who is this person?"

Vincent finished his Drachman conversation and glanced over. "He's new."

The two archers frowned. "Was there another attack?" One asked.

Vincent shook his head. "No. He joined on his own free will."

"Anywho!" Des interrupted, grabbing Al's arm. "That means I'm going with him, right?"

Yes." Vincent walked over to a table and pulled out a gun from the drawer. He gave it to Al. "You'll both need this."

Al didn't want to take it, but he had no choice as Vincent released it. He caught it before it could hit the floor. "O-okay!"

Des smiled and slid on her gauntlets from before. She took the gun from Al and attached it to her belt. "Okay! Let's go!" Des grabbed his hand and ran out and down the mountains. Al stumbled to keep up and panted with how fast she was going. Des smiled and didn't seem to be out of breath in the slightest as she ran with the wind.

**xxx**

_ "Delivery!" Des called out cheerfully as she knocked on a door with one hand, and a basket with a cake in it in the other. An elderly woman opened the door. _

_ "Thank you! How much do I owe you?"_

_ "614 Rubles!" Des finished the transaction and bowed. "Thank you for ordering from Krasota bakery! I hope you come again!" _

_ "I most certainly will! This cake looks delicious!"_

_ Des smiled. "Thank you! As always, have a great day!" She parted ways and ran away from the house. She ran out of the town and into the next one over. _

_"Good morning, Destiny! I see you're up and at it already!" A man greeted from a newspaper stand._

_ Des almost ran past the man when she heard him. She backed up and waved. "Of course! I've got to get to work to make my customers happy!"_

_ "Just take care of yourself," the man said._

_ Des laughed. "You know, Alyona tells me the same things! But there's no need to worry about me!" Des pointed at her chest with triumph. "I've got this!" _

_ The man laughed. "Right, right."_

_ Des swung back and forth on her heels. "I've got to get back to the bakery. I hope you stop by sometime!"_

_ "I will!" The man replied, but Des was already running off and didn't hear him. When she reached the bakery, she hurriedly put down the basket and walked to the counter to where another female was. The female had honey colored hair tied into a side ponytail and focused green eyes. When she saw Des, she sighed. "You couldn't just take the bike? It would go faster. Now you're all covered in sweat."_

_ Des wiped her forehead and saw her hand was glistening. "Am I?" she asked with a nervous laugh._

_ "You should get a car. Don't you know how to drive?"_

_ "Cars are too much money."_

_ The female sighed. "Get to work. We have a lot of customers coming in today." _

_ "Oh, come on Alyona! You can't be crossed with me." Des said, playfully poking her cheek. _

_ Alyona sighed. "No, I can't." _

_ "It gets the job done, right?" _

_ "I suppose so. You still need to be cautious. Drachma isn't stable with Amestris, and I don't want you getting hurt." _

_ Des frowned. "I know. You're not going to fire me, are you?"_

_ Alyona laughed. "Fire you? It's your last name on the sign! We share this business. We are our own bosses. I can't just fire you. Besides, you were right. It gets the job done. You're a great delivery girl."_

_ Des smiled and a customer walked in. "You take care of this one! I'll be in the back baking a new batch of cupcakes!"_

_ Alyona nodded. "Alright." As Des was walking away, Alyona muttered, "Love you."_

_ Des froze and frowned. "Be careful. You know you can't say silly things like that in public."_

_ Alyona sighed and leaned against the register. "Yeah, I know."_

_ Des's frown increased as she walked into the kitchen._

**xxx**

Al got dragged into the forest up to the creek he had seen earlier. "Alright! This is a good fishing spot!" Des exclaimed.

Al couldn't resist and placed his fingertips in the cold water. He looked over at Des and realized they hadn't brought anything. "Uh, we didn't bring any fishing equipment."

"Well, we don't exactly have any," Des said too cheerfully. "But I've got a net! We just have to wait it out!" She took a net from her bag and threw it in the creek. The net wasn't very stable and floated around in the creek.

They waited in silence for a while, but Al broke it. "I don't think this is going to work. You didn't put any bait in."

Des pouted. "I know. It never has. We should go elk and rabbit hunting!" She said, standing up. Al walked past her and grabbed a few sticks. He transmuted the ends of them to be sharp. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Al took the net out of the creek and stood on a slippery rock carefully. "I've learned a few tricks as a kid when I was on an island." He motioned her to be silent and waited. The second he saw a shadow of a fish, he plunged the makeshift dagger in. He pulled out a medium sized fish and smiled. "It's really easy."

Des's eyes were wide. "Woah! That's so awesome!" She grabbed the net and Al put the captured fish in it. She grabbed one of the sticks. "I want to try!"

Al nodded. "Alright. Hold it above the water, and when you see a shadow, plunge it in."

Des nodded in understanding and waited. Minutes flew by, and Des was growing impatient. Finally, a fish could be seen. "There's one!" She plunged the dagger in and caught it. "Alright! Your idea is working! You're some kind of genius!" she praised as she added the fish to the pile.

Al rubbed his head. "Thank you. You'll actually have to thank my brother. He's the one that came up with it."

Des smiled. "You're brother must be an awesome hunter then!"

Al laughed. "I guess so. We didn't really have a choice on that island. We did whatever it takes to survive."

Des got the dagger ready again. "What were you doing on an island in the first place?"

"It was apart of our alchemy training." Al spotted a fish, caught it, and tossed it into the net.

"Alchemy training?"

Al nodded. "Our teacher wanted us to survive a whole month on that island before she would teach us. We weren't allowed to use our alchemy, so we had to make the weapons ourselves."

"That sounds tough! How old were you?"

Al shrugged. "I think I was around nine. It was so long ago, so I could be wrong."

Des laughed. "I would've probably died."

"Well, we weren't very smart in the beginning and almost got ourselves killed. Brother's the one who kept us moving and came up with most of the ideas."

Des smiled softly. "You talk so highly of your big bro." She saw a fish and stabbed it, tossing it into the pile.

Al nodded. "I guess I do. He's always been there for me. He's my role model." Al, once again, felt a pang of guilt for leaving Ed in the dark about everything. It felt like he was betraying their bond.

Des smiled and her eyes held sadness. "Yeah? That's good. People like that are pretty special, huh?"

Al nodded, wondering if he had upset her. His curiosity got the best of him and he couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Do you have someone like that?"

Des nodded. "I did. My co worker, Alyona. She was the smart and serious one, unlike me, haha. I just ran around like a crazy person half the time. She had things together, and I really admired that."

Al looked over at her. "What was your job?"

Des stretched out her arms. "I worked at a bakery. Alyona and I had been friends since childhood. We took cooking classes together in school. We knew we had a talent for it, and we went with it! It was so much fun owning a place with her. Not to brag or anything, but, we were pretty awesome bakers!"

Al blinked in surprise and stared at her. He knew they all had lives before becoming terrorists, but it was hard to see Des as a baker. "That's good that you both followed your passion."

Des shrugged. "Yeah, probably." She stood up and walked to another edge of the creek and stabbed a fish. "I'm one of the cooks at G.A.G. now, and it's just as fun. Reminds me of the old times, you know? So, we going to catch these fish for all the hungry people, or what?"

Al stood up. "Oh, right!" He grabbed his dagger and the net and walked over.

**xxx**

_Des panted as she walked down the dark streets of her town. She held a lantern up, and an empty basket __in her other hand__. "That took longer than expected," she grumbled to herself. "Alyona's going to be mad at me for keeping the shop open after hours." It didn't surprise Des when she saw the bakery in sight and Alyona __standing outside __with crossed arms._

_ "What took so long?" she asked without hesitation._

_ Des sighed and wiped her forehead. "The town was farther away than I thought."_

_ "That's why I told you to use the bike. You never listen to me."_

_ Des clenched her fists. "Fine! You were right! I just can't help it! When I run, it makes me feel free!"_

_ "Calm down. What do you mean by free?"_

_ "You know! Free!" Des sighed and recollected herself. "Why __did we move to t__his town?__ What are we doing? __Why do we have to live in different houses? __You know we can't keep this up forever. It's... it's not accepted."_

_ Alyona tilted her head. "What? Selling cakes?"_

_ "You know that's not what I mean!" Des sighed. "Sorry. I shouldn't yell at you. I'm just tired. I'll stop __making deliveries on foot if__ you want me to." _

_ "Desti-"_

_ "You can lock up shop now. I'm sorry for running late."Des started to walk away._

_ "I don't care about that!" Alyona shouted and grabbed Des's wrist. Des was startled and froze. "I don't care if you're late or not. I would prefer if you were more punctual, but that's not what this is about. I just, get worried, okay? Especially when it's dark out at night." _

_ Des looked down in shame. "Oh. __I didn't know that's what this was about.__ I'm sorry."_

_ Alyona shook her head __and patted Des's head comfortingly__. "You're sweaty. Get some rest. __And let me worry about that other stuff, alright?"_

_ "But-"_

_ Alyona gave her a stern look. "Trust me. I've got a plan. A plan with the both of us getting away from anyone and anything that can judge us."_

_ Des twiddled her thumbs. "That's wishful thinking."_

_ Alyona shook her head. "No it isn't. I've got the finances calculated. In a few more years, we will be out of this town and in a mountain. You can be free like you've always wanted to be."_

_ Des's eyes were wide. She had no idea her partner had been planning all of that. "Really? Do you think we can do it?"_

_ Alyona smiled. "Of course! It's very much real. It's not just a dream. There are two types of dreamers in this world. Ones that sit around, and ones that make the dream a reality. I promise with my life that we will live the life we want. Just keep up this act up for a few more years, okay?"_

_ Des wiped her eyes. "Okay. I will."_

_ "__Don't get all emotional on me now." __Alyona patted her shoulder. "__We open bright and early tomorrow, __and you better be on time," __she__ said with a grin._

_ Her grin was contagious and Des found herself smiling back. __ "__Right, of course. I've got this! I promise I'll be on time tomorrow!" _

_Alyona looked around and quickly hugged her. "Good. Be careful on the way home."_

_ Des blushed and nodded, smiling. "I will be! I may not look it, but I can be tough! I'm a tough wo-" as she said that, she tripped over the basket she forgot that she had placed down at her feet._

_ Alyona rolled her eyes. "Go to bed, you crazy woman." _

_**xxx**_

_ "__Thank you! Come again!" Des waved as a customer left. Alyona approached from behind._

_ "I'll take over from here. We need more cupcakes, and you make them the best."_

_ Des nodded and stepped away from the register. "Alright! No problem!" She raced into the kitchen and got to it._

_ Before she knew it, two hours had passed. She placed trays of cupcakes onto the shelf and wiped her hands. "Done!" As she was about to go wash up, the shelf broke. She gasped and quickly caught all three trays with her arms and head. "Bad shelf! Shame on you!"_

_ "What's the commotion?" Alyona asked. She shook her head when she saw Des. "Okay, I'll admit. That's an impressive catch," she commented as she took the tray from her head. _

_Des glared at the shelf. "It's out to get me. That's the third time this week!"_

_ "Well then it's a sign we need a new one." Alyona walked to the closet and pulled out a tool box. "You handle the customers, and I'll handle the shelf." _

_ "__Okay!" Des cleaned herself a bit and emerged from the kitchen. She was surprised to see two tall men in blue uniforms eying the food. She didn't recognize the uniforms they had on. "Can I help you gentlem__en__?"_

_ One of the men, who was blonde, looked at her. He snickered and pointed at her. "Hey, she's cute. Maybe we should spare her and take her with us."_

_ Conufused, Des said, "Huh?" She couldn't quite make out what he said because of his Amestrian accent interfering with his already bad Drachman. "I can speak Amestrian you know," she said fluently._

_ The other man rolled his eyes at his friend and walked over to her. "I'm sorry for my friend," he apologized in Amestrian. "How much are the cookies?"_

_ "184 rubles."_

_ The man nodded and his friend grabbed two. They dropped the money on the counter and left. Des started counting it when she realized it was cenz. "Hey!" She ran out of the store __to get them__, but they were out of sight. She stomped her foot. "Get back here and pay with the right currency you je__e__erks__!"__People that were walking by stopped to look at her. Des squeaked and ran into the shop before she could make a bigger fool of herself. She pouted a__nd flipped through the cenz._

_ "The shelf is fixed," Alyona said as she walked over. Des sighed and handed her the money. "We got scammed. Well, I got scammed."_

_ Alyona looked it over and stiffened. "Cenz? Amestrians came in here?"_

_ Des crossed her arms. "Yeah, they came and left quickly after robbing me."_

_ "What were they wearing?" Alyona asked._

_ Des was a bit surprised at how serious and concerned she was getting. "Blue uniforms of some sort."_

_ "What!? This is bad." Alyona started closing up the register._

_ "Woah, hey! What are you doing?" Des asked._

_ "Haven't you heard about the attacks? Amestris has been sending state alchemists as weapons!"_

_ Des shook with fear. "What? Are you sure?"_

_ "Yes, I am! Grab your things and lets go warn people!" Alyona ordered as she stuffed the money from the register into her bag._

_Des shivered. "You're scaring me. What if it's a mistake? What if they're not going to attack us?"_

_ "We can't take chances like that!" Alyona sped around the store and took money from the safe. "We have to go!" _

_ Des, though shaking, nodded. "Okay." She went into the kitchen and scanned for anything important. She gasped and screamed as an explosion nearby shook them. She collapsed to the floor and covered her ears. She looked up and saw the shelf about to fall on her. It almost hit her when Alyona caught it and tossed away. She grabbed Des's arm and pulled her up. "Are you okay!?"_

_ Des nodded, trembling. "I-I think-" Another explosion went off and she shrieked._

_ Alyona dragged her out of the kitchen, avoiding breaking glass. "We have to get out of here!" _

_ Des followed her to the main room and froze when she saw the smoke coming from outside. People were screaming from left to right. "T-this can't be real..." she whispered. She saw the same man from before clapping his hands and transmuting fists to crush people with. The other was setting off explosions and turning houses into nothing. _

_ "Let's go! Move your legs!" Alyona shouted. Des was frozen with fear as she stared out at the awful scene. She could barely comprehend what was going on. "Move! Destiny!" Alyona's voice finally registered in her mind and they ran to the door. They exited the bakery quickly. "Duck!" Alyona grabbed her and dragged her under a bush as an explosion went off. A second later, Des was dragged to her feet. "We have to keep moving!" She remained in a daze as Alyona used her brain and tried to sneak out of the town without getting noticed. Des gasped and covered her mouth when she saw the man from the newspaper stand getting beaten up. _

_ "I-I know that person..." She stuttered out and slowly approached._

_ Alyona grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. "We can't save him! Forget about it!"_

_ "How can you say that!?" Des shouted and glared at her. She gasped and fell to her knees as the ground shook. _

_ "Because I'm a realist! We can't save anyone! Right now we need to focus on surviving ourselves!"_

_ "We can't abandon them!" _

_ "We have no choice!" Alyona gasped as she was caught in a transmuted hand. Her bag slipped out of her hands and landed next to Des. Des gasped and froze. Alyona looked at her. "Run! Get out of here! Run, damn it!" she screamed. _

_ Des stared in horror as the hand started slowly crushing her. "A-animals..." she muttered._

_ Alyona glared up at the military man defiantly and looked at Des. "Run! Y-you can survive this! Get the hell out!"_

_ Des tried to make her legs move, but they weren't working. "A-Alyona..."she stuttered out weakly. One of the men started walking over to her, and she still couldn't move._

_ "Run! Run as fast as you can! Destiny!" Alyona shouted._

_ Des stood, feet frozen to the ground. She trembled violently and couldn't even imagine leaving her behind. _

_ "Just run! Run past everything! Be fre-" Alyona didn't get to finish as the hand crushed her. Blood oozed out and Des screamed._

_ Before the other man could grab Des, she kicked him, grabbed the bag, and ran. She ran past the horrid scenes, past her friends and neighbors dying, past the evil men that tried to stop her, past the attacks, everything. She didn't look back, and she didn't stop running. She ran faster than she ever had in her life. She ran, leaving Alyona behind. She finally collapsed on the side of the road away from her town. She panted and trembled and let out a loud scream. She pulled on her hair, unable to believe what had just happened._

_ She sat in a daze and didn't know how much time was passing when she saw bright lights from a car. She stared at the tempting lights and smiled. "Damn this world. I have nothing to live for." She stood up and, when the car got close enough, ran into the middle of the road._

_ **SCREECH!**_

_ Des closed her eyes, prepared for the impact. When it didn't happen, she opened up her eyes. The car stopped directly in front of her. "D-don't stop. Run me over..." she whispered in a hoarse voice. _

_The backseat door opened and a man with a black mask and a blue coat stepped out. Des looked confused. "W-who are you?"_

_ The man didn't answer her. "What the hell are you doing in the middle of the road!? We could've killed you!"_

_ "Fine by me! Let me die!" Des shouted and trembled. She looked down to her feet. "I lost everything. Y-you'd be doing me a favor." _

_ "Wait, are you from the town that just got attacked?" The man asked._

_ She nodded. "Yes, I am."_

_ The man got closer and looked her up and down. "You were strong enough to survive. You've seen what those Amestrian pigs did. You've lived through hell today, and you survived and run into me. It has to be fate."_

_ Des looked up and into the man's light blue eyes. "What are you saying?"_

_ The man extended his hand. "I'm offering you a chance at revenge."_

**xxx**

"Excuse me? Excuse me?" Al called out for the fifth time. Des sat across from him in a daze as she caught fish like nobody's business. "Uh, Des?"

"Hm?" Des asked as she tossed another fish into the net.

"I-I think we have too many fish," Al said.

Des gasped as she looked at the giant pile. "Oopsie! Sorry, I spaced out for a bit!" Des stood up and smiled. "This is the most fish we've had in a long time!"

Al frowned. "Are you alright?"

Des turned and smiled brightly. "Of course I am!" She picked up the heavy sack of fish with ease. "Now we can go hunting!"

"Do you want me to carry that?" Al asked and reached over for the net.

Des swatted his hands away. "I've got it! You can carry the rabbits once we get some!"

"Are you sure you don't want help with that? It looks very heavy."

Des shook her head. "What, this? It's nothing! I'm a strong girl, you know!"

"Alright, if you're sure."

Des smiled and led him deep into the forest. "I know a good place for hunting!" Al followed her until they were on a grassy hill hidden behind trees. From above, they could see the ground in case any animals came by. Des handed him a shotgun. "This job's yours!"

Al frowned. "A gun? Won't the noise scare off all of the other animals?"

"Yeah, but we only need a few! It doesn't matter, as long as you get it." Al stared at the gun and put it down. "Hey!"

"I have a better idea," he said, standing up. "Do you have a spare fishing net, by any chance?" Des nodded and pulled one out of her bag. She handed it to him folded up neatly. He walked quietly down the hill and hid the net under leaves and dirt. He used the stems of various plants and created a rope. He transmuted the rope and the net together. He wrapped the rope up and over a tree branch and hid behind the tree, holding onto the end of it. "Give me a signal when you see one!"

Des shook her head. "You have a lot of new ideas."

Al chuckled slightly. "Thank you."

"What's the signal?"

"Oh, uh, just point, I guess."

Des nodded. "Right. I can do that. I can point."

Al got comfortable in the cold grass and kept his grip on the ragged rope while they waited.

**xxx**

_Des fired an arrow at a target perfectly. She smiled. She had been practicing for weeks, and was finally getting good at it. She saluted as she saw Shura approach her. "M-morning, Boss."she said nervously._

_ Shura looked over the target. "You have impressive aim. I want you to start practicing with the gun Voris made for you."_

_ Des frowned and looked down. "R-right now? H-how come? I can be a good archer!"_

_ Shura pulled the gun out from his pocket and handed it to her. "I have plenty of archers in training. The bullet of a gun is more affective than an arrow. You have good aim, and I need more sharp-shooters."_

_ Des gulp as she took the customized gun. "D-do I really have to?"_

_ "Yes, you do. I'm impressed with your speed and accuracy, and we are designing bullet resistant gauntlets for you. However, I believe you'd be very useful with a gun as well. Get to work." Des pouted as he walked away._

_ A fellow archer looked at her and waved. Des timidly waved back and aimed the gun. Her arms shook and she shrieked and shut her eyes when the gun went off. She opened them to see the bullet had gone into the tree and not the target. The gun slipped out of her fingers and she sighed, wiping her eyes. "I'm such a coward." _

_**xxx**_

_"Get back here!" An Amestrian man shouted as he chased Shura and Des around. Shura pulled out his sword and fired at the man. He dodged and continued to chase them. They ran into an alleyway and Vincent climbed up trashcans and boxes onto the rooftop __of a building__. "Let's go!"_

_ "Boss? W-why are we stealing from them?" Des asked as she shivered._

_ "They stole more from us! Don't pity an Amestrian! Especially not this one! He's notorious for being a scum bag in the military! He's a racist murderer!"_

_ "S-still... d-doesn't this make us no better than them by stealing?" Des asked as she trembled._

_ "We need the funds, and we will do more good with __the money __than he ever will! __It's too suspicious that he had so many rubles! It's a sign he's up to no good! __Now lets g-" Shura froze as the Amestrian man caught up._

_ "Filthy Drachman rat!" The man shouted and pulled out a knife._

_ Des trembled and took out her gun. She tried to aim it at him, but she was trembling too much to focus it. __Just as the man was about to stab her in the skull, a gun went off from above. The man dropped dead __at__ her feet. She looked up and saw __Shura h__olding his bullet sword up. He glared at her in disappointment and put his sword back in it's scabbard. Des gulped and climbed up to the roof. She knew she was in trouble now._

**_x__xx_**

_ "Boss? W-where are we going?" Des asked as he led her into the forest._

_ "Shut up and follow me," was his reply. They walked around until he ducked under a bush. There was an elk a few feet away from them, blissfully unaware of their presence. _

_ "Are we hunting?" Des asked._

_ "You are." Shura handed her the gun. Des gulped. "I've seen you and heard about you. You have been unable to take the life of any living thing, be it an animal or a human. On all of the hunting trips, even with a bow an arrow, you haven't killed anything."_

_ Des trembled and looked away. "B-because I don't want to."_

_ Shura readjusted his black mask. "Are you afraid?" Des bit her lip and nodded. He sighed. "You have to get rid of that fear. It won't do you any good in this business."_

_ "I-I know. I-I've been trying so hard."_

_ "Try harder." Shura dropped the gun in her hands. He pointed at the Elk. "Kill it."_

_ "Won't the noise of this gun scare other animals off?"_

_ "This isn't about hunting. This is about you. Aim the trigger and kill it." _

_ Des gulped and got the gun ready. Her fingers trembled and she counted to three. At three, nothing happened. She stared at the Elk and her finger ghosted over the trigger. _

_ "What are you doing?" Shura asked. No response. "Aim, and fire." Des only trembled. "Shoot!"_

_ "I can't!" She shrieked and dropped the gun. The elk heard her and ran away. Shura sighed heavily and frowned at the retreating Elk. "I'm so-"_

_ Des got interrupted by Shura slapping her. "Idiot! That was our dinner! Don't you get it yet!?" He stood up from his spot on the ground. "We have to make sacrifices! We have to kill! It's a necessity and it's the only way we will get a different future!"_

_ "I'm terrified!" Des stood up, clenching her fists. Her legs trembled as she stared defiantly into Shura's eyes. "I'm not strong! I'm weak! I'm a coward! I can't kill anything! I'm useless, okay!? I'm not strong like you are! I'm not a rock like you are either! I'm a grain of sand in comparison because I'm so damn terrified of everything around me! I can't be as strong as you, ever! All I know how to do is to run!" _

_ There was a silence, and then Shura chuckled. He chuckled so loudly he had to cover his mouth. "Boss? Are you okay?"_

_ "You think I'm strong? That's rich!" He looked at her. "The thing is, I'm not strong! I never have been! I've always been the underdog in comparison to my older brother! But this," He gestured to the area. "G.A.G., I made it! I'm building it! I'm the one in control! But, getting back at Amestris is all I have now! The truth is, without it, I'd be a fucking wreck!" There was a pause and his laughter died out. "I'm not strong. I'm just burying myself in my ambition and revenge because it is the only damn thing keeping me moving forward. The truth is, everyone here, we are all weak. We all have been terrified. We just push it to the side and focus on our vengeance instead." Shura dusted off his coat and turned around. He glanced over his shoulder at her. "One more thing. I know you must've cared about the people that died in your town. Take that anger, and use it with every attack. Let it be the fuel to ignite your fire. Humans aren't born strong. We are made strong through unfortunate circumstances." Des stared in shock at Shura's retreating back, and he couldn't help but smile when he heard the sound of a gun going off and the cry of an injured animal._

**xxx**

"Al, you're a hunting prodigy!" Des exclaimed as she stabbed the sixth rabbit they caught.

Al shook his head. "Not really, but I'm glad I was able to help."

"Oh, you helped alright! This is a major haul! I can't wait to get cooking!"

Al was about to say something when a Drachman man walked over to them. Al couldn't understand a word of the exchange he and Des had, but then she motioned over to Al. He walked over and she smiled. "We get to go back now!"

Al sighed in relief. Hunting had been fun, but it was getting very cold outside. Even the animals wouldn't be out much longer. They followed the Drachman man up the mountains. Al didn't understand him, so he felt like a third wheel as he and Des carried out a conversation. When they reached G.A.G., people were staring at their catch with wide eyes. Even Vincent seemed mildly impressed. He gave Al a nod and then disappeared into the manor.

At dinner, the large dining room had several tables scattered about. The room had a heavy aroma of fish and freshly cooked meat with a lingering spice in the air. Al struggled to find a good place to sit because he couldn't understand most of them. He settled for sitting next to Des and the two archers from earlier. When he sat down, the archers looked at him as if he was their new God and their new found religion.

"You have to teach us how to set up those traps!" One shouted.

"And how to catch so many rabbits!" The other said. The next thing Al knew they were begging at his feet repeating please over and over.

"U-uh, o-okay, I guess I can," Al said, taken off guard. He spent the meal talking to the two boys and going over the making of the traps with them. He explained how they could do it even without alchemy and what to use. He looked around the room at all the people laughing and having a good time. He frowned. They definitely weren't bad people, they were just hurt. They wanted change. If Al was being honest with himself, he didn't know where to start looking for the culprits. It could actually be Amestris, but he still had faith in his country.

Vincent, as usual, sat alone. Whenever he stood up to get something, anyone he walked by saluted. Al had to admit, the size of his group was impressive. They seemed dedicated, hard working, and all fighting for the same cause. He wondered what went on in Vincent's head. He wondered how he kept the group moving and shouldered everything. Al wasn't sure if he could have done the same thing. He found his dedication admirable, but his anger against peace a problem. He was hoping to have been able to find clues that day, but he hadn't. He was running out of time, and even though it had only been a day, every minute counted. If he didn't get an answer in two weeks, it was over.

Vincent approached their table and Al tensed up as everyone around him began saluting. Just as he was about to do the same, Vincent grabbed his arm. "It's late. We are leaving now."

"Oh, o-okay! By-" Al didn't get to say goodbye as he was dragged away from the table. They hiked down the mountain, and Al realized how exhausted he was from all the hunting and hiking. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Seven. By the time we get down there, it'll be eight. We leave every day at eight, so that we can be back at the palace at eleven. I don't like being late, so make sure you're on time and back inside the manor by seven."

Al nodded. "Alright."

"Did you find any clues for your theory?"

Al shook his head. "Um, no. I don't really know where to look."

Vincent nodded in understanding. "We are going on another mission soon. I'll let you tag along, and maybe you'll find something, but I know you won't. I hate your stupid idea. I'm telling you right now it's a lost cause."

"I'm still going to try."

When they reached the end of the mountains an hour later, Al was struggling to stay awake. He got inside the car and when Grigory started driving, he was already asleep.

**Xxx**

Al felt something sharp poke him. "Get up. We are almost there." Al rubbed his eyes and his breath hitched when he saw Vincent was poking him with his sword. Vincent pulled back his sword.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep," he apologized and bit off a yawn.

"It's understandable. It was your first day, after a-" Vincent gasped when they pulled in front of the gate.

"W-what?" Al asked.

When the car stopped, Vincent jumped out and ran over to another car. "This better not be his."

Al, more than confused, got out and walked over. "W-what? Who is it?" Vincent opened the gate and ran up the marble steps. "H-hey! Hold on a second!" Al chased after him.

Vincent swung the doors opened harshly and entered the seating room. He clenched his fists tightly. "You!"

Al tagged along and saw that The Emperor and Mustang were still awake, along with someone else. There was a man with dark brown hair and equally light blue eyes. He wore a royal suit and smiled when Vincent entered the room. "Hey, Vinny!"

Al glanced between the unknown man and Vincent, who was shaking with rage. He had no idea what was going on and sighed, knowing that this probably wasn't going to go down good.


	10. Chapter 10

**Guess who's sick? Meee! If my sickness interferes with the quality of my writing, I'm very sorry. I tried my best. Oh, also, GWAFA, I might write more stories after this. I have one in mind, but right now, I'm just trying to focus on OD. Thanks for asking, and thank you for reading!**

**Disclaimer: I have more disclaimers than I have money**

"What the hell are you doing here, Macarthius!?" Vincent barked. He clenched his fists tightly, turning his knuckles white.

Macarthius stood up and approached Vincent. They looked similar, except Vincent's hair was a lighter shade and Macarthius had more defined features. Vincent also was a head shorter in comparison. "I came to visit home. It has been so long since my last visit, and I wanted to see how my younger brother was doing."

Vincent looked away from him and at Al. "Well, have a nice trip back to wherever the hell you go. I have business to attend to, and don't have time to talk to you." Before Vincent could grab Al, Macarthius placed something in his hands. It was a box wrapped up with a bow on it. "What is this?"

Macarthius smiled. "A souvenir from Amestris! Vinny, you should've seen the things I've seen! Xing is cultural driven, and Amestris was so diverse!"

"Stop calling me Vinny!" Vincent snapped at him and glared down at the box as if it offended him. He handed the box back to him. "I don't want it. I've had a long day, and I'm tired. I want to retire to my room, and he does too," Vincent pointed at Al, seemingly looking to him for guidance out of the situation.

"O-oh, right!" Al stuttered out. Al looked around the room, and saw that The Emperor and Mustang were already gone. Al sighed. They must've cleverly avoided the line of fire.

"But we haven't seen each other in so long! Don't you want to hear about what I've been doing for the country?"

Vincent glared angrily up at Macarthius. "No."

Al shifted where he stood. He took a few steps back to slip away, but Vincent stepped on his foot, holding him in place. Macarthius looked away from Vincent to fully acknowledge Al. "Who's your friend?"

Vincent grabbed Al's arm and pushed him in front of him. Al squeaked and swayed for a moment before regaining his balance. "This is Alphonse Elric. He is the younger brother to the Fullmetal Alchemist, and he has been helping me at the orphanage."

Macarthius smiled and shook his hand. "I've heard about the orphanage from father's letters! It's a pleasure to meet you! Your brother has quite the reputation! By any chance, are you and Vincent, friends?"

Al shook his hand back. "I-it's nice to meet you too! And, uh, maybe? I guess so."

Macarthius looked between the two of them and smiled as his grip tightened. "That's amazing! Vinny made a friend! This is a historic moment!" He released Al and patted Vincent's head. "Looks like you're finally coming out of your shell! I'm so proud of you! First that girl, and now him!"

Vincent's eye twitched as he pushed his brother's hand away. "Don't touch me! I'm not in a shell! I have plenty of friends, not just two!"

"Oh really?" Macarthius laughed. "Where are they?"

"They! They are-" Vincent froze mid sentence and looked down to his feet. "They're just busy."

For a second, Al almost thought Macarthius smirked. It was quickly replaced with worry. He patted Vincent's head again, and like the last time, got pushed away. "It's alright, Vinny! You have your big brother here for you!"

Vincent looked ready to punch him. "I have you!? Really, Macarthius? Where the hell are you then!? Normal brothers don't go a year without seeing each other!"

"D-didn't you get my letters? Father got mine. I wrote you once a month!"

"I burned them."

Macarthius frowned but then smiled sadly. "W-why would you do something like that? Silly Vinny!"

"Because I don't want to hear you brag about all the so-called good you do for our country!" Vincent shouted and got close to him. "I don't want to read your reminders about how I'll never be able to do anything like you! I'm sick of you making me feel worthless!"

Macarthius's eyes widened, but then he composed himself. "I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I always think about you. Like with this souvenir I got you! Why don't you open it? I bet it will make you feel better!" He handed him the box once again.

Vincent sighed. "Alright! I'll open it." He unwrapped the box and pulled out a miniature grandfather clock. "What is it?"

Macarthius was practically beaming with joy when he opened it. "It's a clock! I got it at a clock shop in Amestris! It's not like the big ones, but a tiny bird does come out to greet you every hour! Isn't it cute?"

"I'm going to murder you," Vincent handed the small clock to Al. "You keep it."

"U-uh..." Al awkwardly took the clock and held onto it. He felt so out of place, and if he wasn't so tired, he probably would've done something smarter to get out of the situation.

"I bought that for you. You do not like it?" Macarthius asked, tilting his head.

"Of course not! It's childish!" Vincent spat.

"I-I think it's nice," Al said, and earned a death glare from Vincent. He decided to bite his lip to prevent him from getting stabbed with a sword.

"B-but you love cute things! And it's small too!"

"Well, not anymore."

Macarthius rubbed his head and chuckled. "Sorry. I should've known better. You are growing, after all. But I got something else too!" Macarthius walked over to the couch and grabbed a suitcase form the side. He dug around the front pocket for a bit and pulled out a silk bag. He handed it to Vincent. "Be careful."

Vincent pulled on the strings, opening the bag. He reached in and pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper. He carefully unwrapped it and was met with a glass swan. "What."

Macarthius smiled. "I got that in Xing! They're very talented with their glass creations! I know that's not something you would like, so I figured I'd give it to you to give to that girlfriend of yours!"

Vincent's eyes widened and he looked away. Al grew puzzled and watched the scene with interest. Macarthius noticed too and chuckled. "I know, I know. You kept telling me she's only a friend, but I know better! If you give this to her, you'll win her heart!"

"Shut up," Vincent said in a monotone voice. His face was torn between being unreadable and being angry. "Some older brother you are. You've been gone that long. You left right before it happened. You don't know a thing about my life, or who I am today. Not like you even care to know. These gifts are all just a show to father's eyes. The letters too. That's why I never bothered to read them. You're not like this. You don't care. All I am to you is..." Vincent held the swan up in the air. "Fucking useless!" He threw it at the wall, shattering it into pieces, and causing a photograph to fall to the floor.

Bother Macarthius and Al were wide eyed. "Vinny?"

"Shut up!" Vincent snapped back. "Stay the hell away from me. Get out of my life!" He gave Macarthius a nasty glare and then ran up the stairs.

Al walked over to the glass mess and started picking some of the pieces up. He saw that Macarthius was trying to hold back tears. He knew it wasn't in his place to meddle into the affairs of a royal family, but he couldn't stop himself. "You know, in my opinion," he started while he picked up the pieces. "I think it was kind of you to bring him back something and to write to him."

Macarthius smiled sadly and got on the floor to pick up pieces too. "Thank you. I know how Vincent is. He has a temper, and he's mad at me because he misses me. I know I can't be there for him as much as I want to, given that I have to deal with most of Drachma's matters, but I still care for him."

Al nodded in understanding. "I don't know either of you very well, but I don't think any bond is impossible to fix. Especially not a bond with your brother."

Macarthius grinned. "Yeah, you're right! I've just got to prove to Vinny that I still care about him. Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes. Maybe you two should spend some time together." Al got up and threw the pieces away into a trash can, and Macarthius did the same.

"That's a great idea! I'll have to bond with him. I'm glad that Vincent has a friend like you."

Al rubbed his head. "W-well, I wouldn't say we are fri-"

"Ever since our mother left, Vincent closed up into this shell and hasn't been able to talk to people his age well. I tried to get him out of it, but he's a pretty shy and fragile person."

"Fragile?" Al asked. Vincent was nowhere near fragile.

"Yeah. He's a good kid, but his heart would get in the way of any major decisions. I don't want him to have to see what I've seen, so I take on all of it. Of course, to him that translates as me thinking he's weak and I boastful. If he saw what I've seen though, he wouldn't want to be a leader of Drachma. To be honest, I don't think Vincent even has what it takes to be a leader. He doesn't have the heart or the stomach to make the harsh decisions."

Al had to stop himself from disagreeing. Instead he nodded. "I see." He couldn't help but to realize really just how much they didn't know each other. Macarthius walked over and put up the picture on the wall again. Al studied the photo. It had a young Macarthius, a young Vincent, The Emperor, a woman, and in Macarthius's arms, a little baby girl.

Macarthius pointed at the woman. "That's our mother. And that," he pointed at the baby, "was our little sister, Anastasia. She died at the age of three because of a bad fever. My parents started arguing shortly after. I'll spare you the dull details, but they're separated now, and Vincent closed up because of it."

Al frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Macarthius smiled. "It's late. You must be tired. Thank you for your assistance, but you should get some rest."

Al nodded. "Alright, and it was no trouble at all." Al waved and walked to his guest room. Along the way, he ran into Mustang in the hallway. "Evening, General." he greeted.

"Hello, Alphonse. I've been meaning to talk to you for some time now."

"You'll have to excuse me, but I'm very tired. Goodnight, sir." Before Al could leave, Mustang spoke up.

"How was the orphanage?"

Al smiled. "Oh, it was a lot of fun! The poor kids have been through an awful lot, though."

Mustang nodded. "I'm going to cut to the point. Do you remember the prison break in a month ago?"

Al stiffened. "Not really."

Mustang got closer. "There were witnesses that saw a mysterious man in a red mask."

Al had to bite back a gasp. "Really? That's interesting."

Mustang's eyes analyzed him. "They said he was with the terrorists, an alchemist, and could transmute without a circle."

"Without a circle?" Al swung around to face Mustang. His heart was beating rapidly and his stomach was turning inside and out.

"Another interesting fact is," Mustang looked directly into Al's eyes. "They say they had gold eyes."

In a flash, there were footsteps and a blade being held up to Mustang's neck. "Are you going to be a problem?"

V-Vincent!" Al gasped and grabbed Vincent's arm. "He won't be!"

Mustang seemed unfazed and studied the situation. "So my assumptions were correct."

"You're going to keep your damn mouth shut." Vincent tightened his grip. "I've never liked you. You've burned down villages and killed hundreds. With a reputation like yours in Ishval, it only makes sense that you would do the same to Drachma."

"Hey!" Al snapped angrily at Vincent. "That's going too far! Just put down your weapon before there's a scene!"

"You've heard of me? Then you know killing me won't be easy," Mustang said as he slowly slid on one of his gloves.

"I enjoy a good challenge from time to time," Vincent too started putting on a glove.

"H-hey, both of you! We can settle this!" Al said, but was ignored.

"You know who I am and you still want to challenge me." Mustang slipped under the sword and backed away. He positioned his fingers to snap once his gloves were fully on.

"You know I'm a prince and you're so sure of yourself to win against me. I've been trained to fight assassins since a young age." Vincent slid on his gloves fully as well. "You know, fire and ice don't get along very well."

Mustang took a step forward. "I guess we will have to see which of our alchemy is stronger."

"Yes," Vincent took a step forward too, "I suppose so."

Al ran into the middle between them. "Stop it! You're going to wake everyone up at this point! I'm certain that neither of you want to cause a scene that will be difficult to explain!"

Vincent sighed and lowered his hands. Mustang begrudgingly did the same. "I was hoping to be wrong about a young prince being a terrorist. Why are you involving Alphonse in this?"

"It's not like I'm forcing him. It was his choice."

Al nodded and looked at Mustang. "Yes, it was. I know what I'm doing. I'm sorry for having to hide it from everyone, and now, I'll need you to do the same."

"Or I can force you to be silent," Vincent whispered, holding his sword up.

"Don't!" Al tried to pull the sword away. "I promise he won't interfere, and I promise he won't say a word! You won't, right, sir?" Al asked, looking up at him.

"What are you trying to accomplish around the likes of them, Alphonse!?" Mustang asked.

"The likes of us?" Vincent laughed. "You're one to talk, you murde-"

"Please, sir. I'm not a child." Al interrupted. "I need you to trust me. Please."

Mustang was silent and thought it over. He looked at Vincent and then at Al's pleading eyes. He recognized the fire inside of them from all the years he spent working with Fullmetal. He sighed and pushed his black bangs out of his eyes. He knew when it was time to trust an Elric with no questions asked. "Alright."

"You're getting off easy. But if you say a word to anyone, I will kill you immediately. If you do not care for your own well being," Vincent pointed at Al. "Then I will kill him first, and then you."

Al backed away and stared at Vincent in shock. Mustang subtly gulped and nodded. "I understand. I swear that I will not share what I know."

"Tch. It's not good enough. I don't trust Amestrians, much less a man like you. I don't believe you!"

Al gulped as Vincent drew his sword again. "Stop! Don't do it!" Al pulled Vincent away by a few inches. "He will keep his word! I promise! I've known him for years, and he has kept my secret from the higher ups! He is trustworthy!"

"Is that so?" Vincent stared into Mustang's expressionless onyx eyes. He put away his sword. "It was rather difficult for me to discover what you and your brother have been through. If I had never gotten into this dirty business, I wouldn't have known. I'm impressed."

Al sighed. "It's really late. We are all tired, so why don't we all peacefully go back to our rooms?"

Mustang nodded. "Fine. I expect you to give me a full explanation once all of this is over."'

"I will, sir."

Vincent and Mustang had one last staring contest, and then Mustang finally left. Al glared at Vincent. "Why did you do that!? I could've convinced him I had nothing to do with the prison incident! You just proved him right!"

"For how long could you convince him!? Eventually he would stick his nose where it doesn't belong and cause trouble for me and my men!"

"I would've made sure he wouldn't!"

Vincent laughed. "You can't guarantee that! Stop having so much blind faith in everyone! If he spills our secret, I'll spill his blood!"

Al clenched his fists. "He won't! Stop being so irrational!"

Vincent crossed his arms. "I am not being irrational!"

"Yes, you are! What if someone overheard the argument!? What if you both started fighting? How would you explain it!?"

"I have my ways!"

"You need to think more logically!"

"Enough!" Vincent demanded. "You work under me. Stop talking against me. I won't tolerate insubordination!"

Al sighed heavily. Talking to Vincent was like talking to a brick wall. It reminded him too much of his older brother. "Yes, sir," he said bitterly.

Vincent was about to walk away when he stopped himself. "One more thing. Don't fall for my brother's tricks." Al arched an eyebrow, and before he could ask, Vincent spoke, "I know you're a hopeless optimistic with naive views, but whichever way my brother acts in the presence of others isn't the real him."

"Don't you think you're being a littlw hard on him?"

"I'm not! He's not like a normal brother! Take my word for it when I say he doesn't care."

Al frowned. "I think he does. You're just angry because he's not around, right?"

There was silence, and then Vincent kicked the ground. "Not even close. Goodnight."

H-hey!" Once again, the brick wall was up as Vincent walked away. Al groaned and continued his walk to his room. To his luck, nobody had been around to see the fight. He thanked their luck despite all odds and crawled into his bed.

**xxx**

"Good morning, everyone! I hope everyone had a peaceful night!" Macarthius greeted as he approached the breakfast table. Vincent ignored him and looked the other way. He tried to put his foot on the vacant chair next to him, but Macarthius sat down in it anyways. He sighed and grumbled to himself.

Al sat happily next to Ed, telling him all about the fake orphanage. Ed rambled on about how they were getting nowhere with The Emperor and how he should be able to come along. Mustang sat quietly talking to Hawkeye, and would look up from his meal every so often to meet Vincent's gaze. The Emperor wasn't present, and the servants were off in the other room on standby.

Macarthius's face lit up as he handed Vincent an envelope. Vincent skeptically took it. "What is this?"

"Open it and find out!" he said happily.

Vincent tore open the envelope and pulled out tickets. He studied them for a moment, and then threw them on the table. "What the hell!? I'm not going to some stupid play!"

Macarthius smiled. "But why not? I've already gotten the tickets! I've heard good reviews about this one! We can see it together!"

"I'm not going!" Vincent refused. He handed him back the tickets. "I have other plans for today!"

"But why not? It has been so long since we have done anything fun together!" Macarthius pleaded. "Won't it be fun to bond with your older brother?"

"Bond with you? Don't make me laugh! That's the last thing I would want to do!"

"But it'll be fun! We have exclusive seats on the balcony! You used to want to always sit up on those areas as a kid!"

"Well, I'm not a kid anymore! Plays don't interest me!"

"But this one's a love story," Macarthius said with the hint of a smirk.

"A-a love story?" Vincent glanced at the tickets, and then shook his head. "All the more reason for me to not want to go! I refuse your offer!"

Al sighed and sunk into his seat. He knew Vincent had something against his brother, but he couldn't help but to agree with the older one. Getting out of the palace and having fun could be just the thing they needed.

Macarthius suddenly pointed at Al. "Come on, Vinny! Your genius friend over here suggested all of this! He said that bonding could be exactly the thing we need! Don't you want to listen to your friend?"

"You what!?" Vincent shouted in Al's direction.

Al sunk even lower and waved his hands in defense. "No! I-I mean, I did say something like that, but I didn-"

Vincent sighed heavily. "I told you to stay out of this!"

"T-that was before you said anything! I was just trying to be helpful!"

"I'm going to murder you!"

"Hey!" Ed snapped, standing up. "Prince or no prince, you can't threaten Al like that! If you have a problem with him, you're going to have to go through me!"

"Brother, please don-"

"Let's go then!"

Al covered his face and a shouting fight between Ed, Vincent, and Macarthius went on for minutes. Mustang and Hawkeye had tried to calm the three down, but their voices weren't heard. After what felt like an eternity and two broken glasses later, The Emperor arrived. Vincent instantly straightened up and Ed angrily sat down.

"What is the matter?" The Emperor asked as he took his seat. Irina arrived and started cleaning up the mess.

"Forgive me, father. I hadn't known that wanting to spend time with Vincent would upset him so," Macarthius explained.

"What do you mean?"

Vincent held up the tickets. "He wants us to go see some foolish play. I don't have time for that! I have to get back to the orphanage!"

"What is the matter with a small break?" The Emperor asked. "Your brother has just arrived after so long, and you deny him this?"

Vincent stuttered for a reply. "W-well, I just have different priorities!"

"You know, Vinny," Macarthius spoke up, "After the play, I was planning on taking you to The White Rabbit."

Vincent perked up and looked at him. "Really? Do they still serve Pirozhki?"

Macarthius smirked, confident that he had won the argument. "And zander fillet with mashed potatoes, pickled scallions and quail egg."

Vincent gulped. "I'm listening."

"Then afterwards, we can go to Café Pushkin. I know you love the baked milk they have there."

Vincent's eyebrows twitched as he pondered over the offer. He sighed and picked up the tickets. "Alright, fine!" He flipped through them. "I'll have to make a phone call to the orphanage fi- why are there three tickets?"

Macarthius smiled and cheerfully pointed at Al. "Because your friend is going with us!"

Both Al and Vincent at the same time shouted, "What!?"

**Russian food is pretty gross, isn't it? I researched a lot into it. Please leave a review if you enjoyed! And yes, those restaurants do exist.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm still sick, but I still have school. x.x If any of you are religious, pray for this hopeless nerd. XD**

**Disclaimer: Alright, alright. I'll be serious for once. I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, nor The White Rabbit Restaurant. All rights go to their owners. ... ALL THIS ALCHEMY YET YOU STILL DON'T FEEL A REACTION!**

"Hey, Al! Al!? Where are you?" A young Ed shouted happily as he raced in the backyard of their small country home. He ran past the clothes hung out to dry in search of his little brother.

When Al heard him, he dutifully got up from his spot in the dirt to go see him. "What is it bro-" The young boy's collided, hitting each others heads, and fell to the ground. Ed laughed it off, but Al crossed his arms and pouted. "That wasn't nice."

"Oh come on, Al! I didn't mean to!" Ed said, ruffling his hair. "I have something to show you!"

"I don't want to see it." Al pouted, turning his back to the other.

"What? Why not?"

"Because you didn't say sorry!"

"What!? That wasn't on purpose! It didn't even hurt! Stop being such a baby, Al!"

Al turned to face his older brother and glared. "I'm not a baby!"

"Oh yeah? Then come on!" Ed grabbed his arm and lifted him off the ground. He started pulling him away from the house and into the fields.

"S-shouldn't we tell mom where we're going?" Al asked, glancing back at their house that was starting to grow farther away.

"It'll only take a second!" Ed replied, happily tugging Al, determined to get him to see whatever it was.

"Brother, I dunno. Mom told us to always tell her when we go exploring." Al reminded his stubborn older brother, who had likely forgotten, or didn't care.

"It's not that far! You're not going to tattle, are you?" Ed asked, glancing back at him.

"I'm not a tattletale!"

"Sure you are! You rat on me all the time!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do no-"

"We're here!" Ed interrupted their bickering and pointed to a dirt path. It led into a dark forest. Al gulped as he stared up at the menacingly tall and dark trees.

"T-this?" he gulped nervously.

Ed grinned and walked to the beginning of the path. "Yeah, this! We have to go in here! I bet there's something awesome inside!"

Al shook his head and took a step backwards. "Brother, I don't wanna."

Ed grumbled, annoyed. "Fine. You can stay out here and be a big scaredy cat! I'm going in!"

"Brother, wait!" Al called out, but Ed was already disappearing into the dark forest.. Al didn't want to go in there, but he also didn't want to be outside alone. "Brother! Come back, or I'm telling mom!" he shouted and chased after him.

Ed glanced back at him and smiled his signature big grin. "Then I'll just tell her it was your idea!"

Al sputtered for a reply and chased after his brother angrily. "That's not fair! You're the on-" Al froze as his brother disappeared and his surroundings grew all too dark. "B-Brother?" Al looked around the dark area, the hair on his neck standing up. An uneasiness settled in the pit of his stomach as he continued walking. "Brother? This isn't funny, Ed!" Goosebumps crawled along his skin as the cold air hit him. "Stop hiding! You're freaking me out!" Al yelled, but got no reply.

He heard rustling among the bushes and gasped. He held his arms tightly to his chest in fear. "Brother!" He called out again, trying not to cry. He heard the sound of a blade briefly. It made a strange swooshing sound, one that he felt he had heard before. He looked down and saw a path of automail parts leading deeper into the forest. "This is Brother's," Al said, noticing his voice sounded more mature. He realized he was taller and older too. "What?" he questioned in confusion. He shook it off and continued walking. He started picking the parts off of the ground. "Winry is going to kill him. What has he gotten himself into this time?" He had a pile of automail pieces in his hands when he reached two trees with a curtain of moss hanging over them. He walked inside and froze. All the pieces fell out of his hands as he screamed.

Ed was bleeding with his newly restored right arm cut off again. There was nothing salvaged of his automail leg other than the pieces he had dropped. He had several slashes down his stomach, and a bullet wound in his shoulder. He was clinging on for dear life when Al arrived. Al covered his mouth, wide eyed, and ran to his side. "Brother! Holy hell! What happened!? Stay with me!" He pleaded as he saw the light in his eyes start to dwindle. "No, no!" He panicked as he tried to tend to the wounds and stop the bleeding. A swarm of curses escaped his lips, something he only did when he was extremely terrified, extremely angry, or both. "Brother, please hang on! You can't leave me! You can't!"

"I told you," a voice he recognized whispered lowly. Al froze and clenched his fists as he turned to meet Vincent. His clothes were stained in blood, and the fresh red substance dripped from his sword. "If you said a word..." Vincent didn't give Al time to respond as he cut through him. "YOU'D DIE!"

Al gasped and panted heavily as he woke up. He felt dizzy and placed a hand on his forehead. It took a moment for reality to register into his mind. He saw that he was in a red chair. A theater chair, to be exact. There were rows of chairs below and behind him. He was at the front of a balcony view. On the stage, two actors, a man and a woman, were still performing. He sighed in relief. "I must have fallen asleep." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Who could blame him? The play was in a language he didn't even understand. While he could put together bits and pieces based on the acting alone, it had been hard to stay awake. He looked and saw that a few seats away, Macarthius and Vincent were sitting together. Even though it had been a dream, Al stiffened at the sight of Vincent. He knew he had been getting too comfortable in the prince's presence, and in a strange way, thanked the dream for the reminder that he was dangerous.

However, it was hard to believe that when he had his arms crossed and was pouting as Macarthius kept a tight grip around his shoulders. He looked pretty small slouched into the seat, with a red and gold outfit on that almost looked to big for him, and even his weapon was nowhere to be seen. Al wondered why he had been dragged along to this, but Macarthius wouldn't let him get out of it. So, there they were. Al was watching a play he didn't understand a word of, and Vincent was getting crushed with brotherly love by Macarthius.

Al stood and when Vincent looked at him he just whispered that he was going to the restroom. He excused himself past other audience members and walked down the red carpeted steps. Once he reached the bottom, he slipped past everyone and to the door that led out into the main hall. The theater, in Al's opinion, was more magnificent than the Amestrian ones. In the main hall, there were posters of other plays hung about. A grand chandelier hung from the ceiling, and there were stands with merchandise from the shows playing. Al maneuvered his way through the crowd and managed to reach the restroom before encountering another problem.

He couldn't read the signs on the doors.

He gulped. He knew he had to start studying the Drachman basics. He stared at the characters written, trying to decipher which one meant male and which one meant female. It was too hard to tell, so he decided to just sit back and wait for someone to exit.

Minutes flew by, and his need grew. Nobody had entered or left, and it was starting to drive him up the wall. Just when he was going to just leave it up to luck, someone pointed at the left one. "That one's the men's restroom, buddy."

Al sighed, happily relieved. "Thank you so mu-" he froze. "Clyde?"

"Alphonse?"

"Clyde!" Al cheered and his face lit up. "What on earth are you doing here?"

Clyde smiled. "I could ask you the same question! Small world, huh?"

"Yeah, it sure is." Once the excitement died out, Al remembered his problem. "Uh, would you mind waiting just a moment?"

Clyde laughed. "Sure, I don't mind."

"I'll be right back!" Al said and ran into the restroom. Once he washed up, he left and met Clyde leaning against the wall. "Sorry about that."

"Hey, it's no problem. I can only imagine how long you've been waiting out here." It was evident that he was trying not to laugh.

Al shook his head, grinning slightly. "Yeah. What are you doing in Drachma?"

"It's a long story. My mom is an Amestrian, but my father's Drachman. They're divorced, but I get to come see him every summer!"

"Oh, that's cool," Al tried to chose his words carefully, but realized he failed anyways. "I mean- not that they're divorced! That isn't cool at all! I-I meant-"

Clyde burst out laughing. "R-relax, Al. I get what you mean." He took a deep breath to stifle his laughter before speaking. "It is pretty cool, though. My dad owns a sweet apartment! So, where are you staying?"

Al shifted on his feet. "Oh, uh, at a hotel." He had forgotten to ask the General how much they were allowed to share about their trip.

"Which one?"

"Oh, uh..." Al trailed off.

Clyde laughed. "It's alright if you don't want to tell me."

"I-it's not like th-"

"Don't sweat it!" He pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and a pen from his shirt pocket. He scribbled something down and handed it to Al. "That's the address to the apartment my dad owns. You should stop by sometime if you need anything."

Al smiled and took the paper. "Thank you." They engaged in conversation and walked around to the main hall. Suddenly, a group of photographers and reporters got active. There was a loud commotion, and Clyde and Al nearly got squished by the forming crowd.

"I wonder what all of the fuss is about." Clyde stood on his toes, trying to peer over and get a look.

"Your Highnesses! What did you think of the play?" one of the Amestrian speaking reporters asked. Al sighed. That explained it. He was thankful that he had gone to the bathroom. He would've hated to get ambushed and asked questions. Questions like who he was and why he was hanging around royalty.

"Woah, the prince brothers are here!" Clyde grew excited and smiled.

"Oh really?" Al asked, pretending to be surprised. There was a lot of people speaking in Drachman, but he heard Macarthius's voice answer the reporter in Amestrian.

"It was truly a beautiful and marvelous play! I adored it, but Vinny here enjoyed it the best!" he said loudly.

"Did not! Shut up!" Vincent snapped back. To Al's surprise, reporters stopped huddling the both of them, and only focused on Macarthius.

"How do you plan to handle the recent development with Amestris?" "Do you think that war is the answer?" "Are you going to try to make peace?" was all Al could make out from the commotion. Macarthius answered some in Drachman and some in Amestrian. Al looked over to Vincent to see him glaring with jealousy and crossing his arms. Clyde seemed really excited and was about to go say something when a reporter beat him to it. "Pardon me, your Highness, but did you enjoy the play?" they asked.

Vincent growled and broke their camera. "Don't ask me nonsense like that! Don't you want to hear my opinion on the war too!?"

In a flash, reporters were storming around, and muttering something about the young prince assaulting a reporter. "Damn, that's gotta be a tough life to live," Clyde voiced, backing away from the crowd, and pulling Al with him.

Al frowned in sympathy. "Yeah, it seems like it."

"Oh my, this isn't good." Macarthius said, suddenly behind Al. Clyde seemed extremely surprised when he rested his arm on Al's shoulder. Al just looked over at Clyde sheepishly, knowing that there was no way he could hide it now. "It looks like Vinny has gone and gotten himself into trouble yet again."

"H-h-h-h-hello y-y-your Highness," Clyde stuttered out, clearly extremely nervous. Macarthius chuckled and waved before going into the crowd to rescue Vincent. "Do you know them!?" he asked in shock and with eagerness.

"Uh, yes. My brother had to come to Drachma on business, and I got to come along. We are actually staying at the, um, palace."

"The palace!?" Clyde's jaw looked like it would drop all the way to the floor at this point.

"Back off!" Vincent shouted at the crowd, losing his cool again. He ran over and grabbed Al's arm. "We're leaving! Now!"

As Al got pulled away, he waved to Clyde. "Bye Clyde! I promise I'll visit soon!"

Macarthius bowed to the reporters. "Farewell, wonderful people of Drachma! I must depart now! I bid you all farewell, and may you have a marvelous day!" After posing for a few photographs, he followed Vincent out the door. When they got into the car, Vincent was fuming.

"I have never been so humiliated! The nerve of them!" he went on.

"You need to learn to handle that temper of yours better," Macarthius advised.

"Shut it! I'm not the problem; they are!"

Al sighed and sunk into his seat as an argument ensued. It was pretty easy to read why Vincent had snapped at the reporters and resented his brother. He just wanted to be important to his country too. Instead, they treated him like a child. Even Ed got mad at being looked down upon like that. In a way, Al could understand him.

Remembering his brother, he remembered the horrible dream. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to rid himself of the image of his brother bleeding to death right in front of him. The car came to a stop after a while. "We're here!" Macarthius cheered.

Vincent's anger seemed to melt away as he looked at the restaurant. When Al stepped out of the car, he couldn't help but to gasp. When they entered the restaurant, Al marveled at the interior design. It was a fine dining area, with tables with silk table cloths and chairs with cushions. Some tables had couches for chairs instead of a booth. The floor was clean and polished wood, and shined in the reflection of the lit candles and chandeliers. The most incredible part was that the walls and roof were a glass dome, like a green house. "Wow," Al whispered.

When the workers saw them, they approached immediately. "Welcome, Prince Macarthius!" they greeted with a bow. "Oh, and you too, Young Prince Vincent!" a girl worker chimed in.

Vincent glared but didn't cause a scene. A few more workers came speaking in Drachman to assist them.

"We have reservations. I would be most delighted if you led us to our seating," Macarthius said.

The Drachman waitress nodded. She motioned for them to follow. Al had started to follow the waitress when he was grabbed by security. "Step away from the royal Vavilovs!" one of the security guards said.

"H-huh?" Al asked, stunned as they held onto both of his arms.

"Hey!" Vincent barked, approaching them. "Let him go! He's with us! You wouldn't want to be fined for assaulting an honored guest, would you?" he asked, glaring at the security guards with intensity.

"No, your Highness! Sorry!" Al fell to the floor and sighed in relief. Vincent helped him up and they sat down on one of the couches. Macarthius sat on the other couch across from them, with a glass table with lit candles between them. Al, weak to the feeling of comfort, cuddled in on the couch in delight. "It's so soft," he whispered.

"Straighten up," Vincent ordered.

"Y-yes sir!" Al sat up straight, earning a chuckle from Macarthius.

"You know, Vinny, you shouldn't boss your friend around like that," he lectured.

"Just be quiet." The waitress returned and handed them their menus. Al was thankful that it was also translated in Amestrian. He scanned the menu, and was both interested and confused with the choices. He wasn't familiar with Drachman food at all. Vincent pointed at one of the options. "Get that one. Most tourists from your country choose that dish."

Al nodded. "Alright. Thank you."

Vincent stood up. "Excuse me. I need to wash up." he walked away, and Al started looking around the restaurant when Macarthius cleared his throat. Al looked over and was about to ask what was up when Macarthius spoke.

"Is something the matter with him?"

Al shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know him very well to tell. It seems to me he always acts this way."

Macarthius frowned. "Interesting. Indeed, he has always had a temper. However, I've never seen him lash out at the press when he knows it will cause a scene. I know he doesn't like me very well, but he wasn't as outspoken about it before."

"I see."

Macarthius shifted in his seat and looked Al directly in the eye. "I just want to know what's going on with him. If you know anything at all, I demand you tell me."

Al gulped and shook his head. "I honestly don't know. We have only known each other for three days."

Macarthius's eyes widened. "Only a few days and yet he's already a friend of yours?"

Al waved his hands. "I-I wouldn't say we are friends," he tried to explain for the one hundredth time.

Macarthius was practically sparkling with joy as he clasped his hands together. "You must teach me your secrets!"

"I-I don't have a se-"

"It would mean the world to me!"

"I didn't do any-"

"Please?"

Al sighed and his eye twitched. He was starting to get annoyed with the elder prince. He knew he meant well, but he didn't do anything. He was just another one of Vincent's men and an advocate of peace. He gained his confidence and sat up straight. "Listen here, and I mean really listen. I do not know him well, and I don't have a secret. If you think there's something wrong, and want to know what it is, then just ask him yourself."

Macarthius was silent. Al almost regretted his reply, but then Macarthius nodded. "You're right. I didn't mean for it to appear as though I was sneaking around him. I just want to know what has changed. When we were younger, he used to look up to me. I would give him piggy back rides around the palace, and we got into mischief together. We were quite the duo, you know. It was so much fun!"

_**xxx**_

_"Arthur? What are you doing over here?" A young Vincent asked as he sauntered over to where his older brother was tampering with a table leg. He fidgeted with his itchy light blue tie that was becoming uncomfortable. They were both wearing black and white suits with light blue ties. They had been invited to a wedding, so of course they had to dress for the occasion. The ceremony had ended, and the adults were talking among themselves and drinking wine while the kids played outside and waited on the food. _

_ Macarthius cried in victory and put away the pocket knife he had out. "You're going to love this."_

_ "What did you do?" Vincent asked, crossing his arms._

_ "Oh, nothing. You'll just have to see later." _

_ Vincent pouted. "That's not fair, Arthur! I want to be in on it too! Just tell me."_

_ Macarthius shook his head at his stubbornness and smiled. "Alright, but you have to keep it a secret from mom and dad," he ordered, motioning over to where their parents were talking with the Xingese royalty._

_ Vincent's eyes sparkled and he grinned. "I will! I will! I promise!"_

_ Macarthius handed him the knife. "Be careful with that." he pointed to a table filled with desserts. "I want you to hide under the table cloth and loosen the table legs."_

_ "How come?" Vincent asked._

_ "Because it'll be hilarious when it falls down!"_

_ Vincent started getting the idea and laughed. "Mom and dad are going to kill you!"_

_ "I believe you mean us," Macarthius corrected._

_ "I haven't done anything yet."_

_ "So you're backing out?"_

_ "On this? No way!" Vincent walked over to the table and then froze. He looked over at the big wedding cake. In his mind, he imagined the large cake and all of it's layers crashing down. He knew it was against his better judgment to be apart of this at all, but he just couldn't resist. He looked at Macarthius, who gave him a reassuring nod, and ran under the cake table. He flipped the pocket knife to the screwdriver setting. He unscrewed the screws half way until they were strong enough to stand but too weak to handle any more pressure. He was about to crawl out when he recognized his mother's heels. He gulped and slid deeper in under the table. _

_ "Mom!" Macarthius called over. "Mom, you have to see this!" he said, leading her away._

_ Vincent snickered, thankful for the help, and crawled out without being noticed. Now all that was left to do was wait._

_ Once the food was done being cooked, the waiters set all of the food into the table. Once the groom leaned against the table to give a speech, it shifted, causing the table and all of the food to crash and fall. Gasps echoed around the room, and Macarthius and Vincent had to stop themselves from laughing. _

_ "How did that happen?" one of the guests asked._

_ "This is awful!" A female guest shrieked._

_ "MY FOOD!" The chef cried when he ran out of the kitchen to see the mess._

_ The groom's suit had gotten dirty with some of the food that fell on top of him. His shoes were drenched in sauce and he didn't look too happy. As people swarmed to help him, he denied it and smiled. "I'm sorry, everyone. I'm not sure what happened. At least we still have the cake," He walked over to the cake and his bride did the same. As they were cutting the cake together, the table leaned and the large cake fell on both of them._

_ While there was a commotion of the guests trying to help them, Vincent and Macarthius were roaring with laughter. The other kids were doing the same. Vincent gulped when he saw their mom glare their way._

_ "Do you think your kids did this, or mine?" one of their mom's friends asked._

_ Their mom's glare intensified. "Oh, this is definitely the handiwork of my boys." _

_ "Uh oh. Run!" Macarthius shouted. He grabbed Vincent's wrist and led him outside. They ducked under a bush, scared to make a sound. _

_ "Did you see the look in her eyes? Mom's really mad!"_

_ Macarthius covered his mouth. "Be quiet! You'll give away our location!" _

_ "Boooys?" their mom called out in a sing song voice, causing them to stiffen and bite their tongues. _

_ After a minute of not hearing her, Vincent whispered, "we're dead."_

_ Macarthius laughed nervously. "Yeah. I wonder how long we will be grounded this time." _

_ "This is your fault! Now father won't let me take fencing lessons!"_

_ "You're the one that went along with it! And mom's going to take away my knife!"_

_ "You tempted me!"_

_ "No I didn't!"_

_ "Yes you di-" _

_ "Quiet!" Macarthius held up a finger to his mouth and made a 'shh'ing sound. After a moment of silence, he sighed in relief. "I think she gave up."_

_ Vincent gained some hope. "So we won?"_

_ Suddenly, they were both being grabbed by their ears and pulled out of the bushes. "I don't think so, boys! Walk with me."_

_ "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." the brother's chanted in union as they were taken back to the car._

_ "Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused those poor newly weds?" She asked as she shoved them into the back seat._

_ Vincent and Macarthius pointed to each other at the same time. "It was his fault!" They shouted._

_ "__It was both of you!" their mom said. She held out her hand at Macarthius. "Knife, mister."_

_ "__What knife?"_

_ "Now."_

_Macarthius took it out of his pocket and handed it to her in defeat. She stuck it in her small handbag. "Two weeks. You're both grounded for two weeks. You'll get your knife back when you're ungrounded."_

_ "What!?" they both asked._

_ "Macarthius, you're not allowed to go anywhere near a weapon for the next two weeks. No more radio shows either. You both are to do your schoolwork without complaints and I expect perfect behavior!"_

_ "Ha! Have fun, Arthur! I don't even listen to the radio!"_

_ Macarthius shook his head. "Idiot."_

_ "And you, Vincent," she looked over at him. "I'm taking away your access from the library."_

_ Vincent looked like his whole entire world shattered. "You can't do that! What's wrong with reading!?" _

_ "I don't know how else to punish you. No fencing lessons either."_

_ "Why can't dad just punish us?" Macarthius asked._

_ "Because your father will __go__ too soft __on you__. You boys need to take the free time to reflect on your actions! A wedding is a very important event that they spent months planning for! You wrecked it!"_

_ Both Vincent's and Macarthius's eyes filled with sadness. "We're sorry, mom," Macarthius whispered and hung his head low._

_Vincent nodded and looked at his lap. "Yeah. Sorry."_

_ Their mom sighed and ruffled their hair. "What am I going to do with you boys?" __She calmed down and shook her head. "You're forgiven. I'm going to go find your father. If you stay in the car and wait for us to come back __patiently,__ I might allow you two to eat dessert tomorrow."_

_ The boys smiled and nodded. "We'll be good!"_

**xxx**

Macarthius laughed softly and shook his head. "The older we got, the more distant he and I grew. I know that he has changed, as have I, very much so. Now, he hates me, and I don't know why. I sometimes wish we could go back to the previous days filled with childhood innocence and playful bickering. As painful as it may be, I accept that those days are over and won't return."

Al couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. While he and his brother didn't argue often, when they did, it made his heart feel heavy. During their time traveling and searching for the stone, he often longed just to go back to the days where they played outside and got to see their mother's smile. "They might be over, but you can still have a close relationship. It doesn't have to end with the two of you separated."

Macarthius smiled. "You have a kind heart, Alphonse. That's something people lack nowadays more than before." He stood up and dropped a wad of rubles onto the table. "I'm afraid I must be going now."

"Huh?" Al asked, surprised. He was scared that he had offended him.

"It's getting late. I have somewhere to be. Tell Vinny I'm sorry for losing track of time once he returns. I'll be taking the car, so tell him to phone Grigory or Irina once the two of you are done here to pick you up." Before Al could say anything, he left the restaurant. Through the window, he could see him getting crowded with reporters.

"So he left again?" Vincent asked. Al jumped in his seat. He hadn't noticed that he was standing there.

"Y-yes. I think I might've upset him. It's my fault. I'm sorry," he apologized, looking down.

"Ha! Not likely. He's always on the move with his oh so important matters." Vincent sat in the couch that Macarthius had previously occupied. He flipped through the wad of cash. "Free food is free food. I don't give a damn if he's here or not. In fact, I'm relieved that he's finally gone."

"He really does worry about you, you know."

"So he says." Vincent picked up a menu. "He's just a liar, and you're foolishly falling for it. Now shut up. The sooner we eat, the sooner we can go about our lives. Our plans for being at headquarters for the day was ruined, so once we are done here, do whatever you want."

Al smiled. "Okay!" He had been wanting to spend time with Ed in Drachma. He wanted to go explore the shops and streets with him. He had been so busy that he unintentionally neglected him. He wondered if Ed was enjoying his time in Drachma at all. The waitress came to take their orders and scurried off into the kitchen. They talked about G.A.G. a bit, and Vincent filled him in on what the play was about. Contrary to earlier, Vincent did seem like he enjoyed it. After eating, they left the restaurant and the security apologized to Al yet again. He told them it was fine and that they were just doing their jobs.

Once on the streets, Vincent looked around for a telephone booth. The streets were lively and bustling with people walking back and forth. The buildings had gorgeous architecture. Though they were just buildings, they looked like cathedrals and miniature castles. Vincent saw a telephone booth up ahead. Al stopped admiring the scenery when he noticed someone in the crowd. "Brother?"

Ed stopped and looked at him. He smiled happily and walked over to them. "Hey, Al! What have you been up to?" Vincent took a few steps backwards.

"Oh, just a foreign play. I couldn't understand a word of it, but I've heard it was good."

"Well, that makes two of us. You need to learn Drachman with me. It took me forever to order my lunch because I didn't know what the hell I was getting. The crap I got didn't even taste good!"

Al laughed. "I wonder how we will do in Xing."

"Eh, we'll figure it out once we get there."

"Right; we always have." Al looked around. "Are you here alone?"

Ed stretched his arms. "Yeah. The Emperor's not at the palace, and General Bastard went off on his own. I got sick of sitting around doing nothing, so I thought I'd check out the town."

Al frowned. "I'm sorry, brother."

Ed arched an eyebrow. "For what? You didn't do anything."

"Its just, I want to enjoy Drachma with you, but I've been so busy with other things."

Ed looked over at Vincent and then back at Al. "Don't apologize for that, you goofball!" Ed ruffled his hair, which alone stirred up some childhood memories. "I'm glad you're making friends! It's about time you met more people your age! If you can make friends with a prince, you'll be Mr. Popular in no time!"

Al laughed. "I don't want to be popular, Brother. And we aren't exactly friends. I keep trying to tell everyone that. We just work together."

"Well, whatever you call it, it sure makes you happy, so I'm happy."

Al couldn't help but smile. His brother was too kind. He knew Ed had to have been getting lonely though. "Brother?"

Ed fidgeted with the tourist map he got. "Hm?"

"Do you want to go sight seeing with me? I really want to check out some of the shops here."

Though he tried to hide it, Al could tell Ed was happy about the notion of them finally getting to spend time together. "Sure, Al; that'd be great! But," Ed looked at Vincent.

Vincent shook his head. "I was just going to take a ride home. I'll leave you two be." He said and walked away to make a phone call. He entered the telephone booth and was about to call the palace when he froze. He entered a different number and waited.

"Friend or foe?" the other line asked.

Vincent shook his head. "It's me. I'm glad to hear you're back from Amestris, Voris."

"Boss!?" Voris asked, strangely panicked. "I've been waiting around for you to get here! What have you been doing!?"

Vincent arched an eye brow. "I had unexpected plans! Why is it so important!? Can't you hold the fort on your own!?"

"You know I can, but this is different!"

"What happened?"

There was silence, and then, "It's the Flame Alchemist. He's here."

"So, Al," Ed said, holding up the map. "Where to first?"

Al was examining it when he heard a loud "WHAT!?" He looked over to see Vincent waving his arms around and almost breaking the phone in half. "Uh, could you excuse me one second?"

Ed looked over at Vincent, confused. "Yeah, sure thing Al."

Al ran over to the telephone and swung the door open. "Uh, Vince-"

"This is your fault!" He shouted, unable to compose himself. "I knew he was trouble! I should've- GAH!"

Al gulped. This couldn't be good. "W-what happened?"

Vincent looked over at Ed, who was watching them. "I'll explain on the way there. We have to go. Right. Now."

Al's heart sunk. He didn't know what happened, but figured it was important. "Alright. Give me a moment." He walked over to where Ed was waiting. He could already see that Ed's intelligent mind had put together that they weren't going to spend time together. "I'm sorry, Brother. Something's come up. One of the kids at the orphanage has gotten sick."

Ed smiled and patted his shoulder. "Then you better get over there!"

Al frowned. "I'm so-"

"Don't apologize," Ed cut him off, smiling brightly. "You do what you've got to do Al. I was heading a different direction anyways. I'll catch you back at the palace!" Ed smiled again reassuringly and vanished into the crowd. Al walked over guiltily to Vincent who was yelling at someone to pick them up. "Alright. What happened?"

Vincent glared at him. "That, that rat! That filthy, prying rat! Your friend The Flame Alchemist is at G.A.G.!"

Al eyes widened and he felt as if the world was spinning. "W-what?"

"My men are holding him until we get there! He just couldn't leave it alone, could he!? Filthy Amestrian!"

"W-what does he want?" A million thoughts raced through Al's mind. What was the General thinking? Does he have any idea what they could do to him? Why couldn't he just trust him!?

"I don't know! He won't talk until you and I get there! I have half a mind to just end his troublesome life!"

"You cant!" Al yelled. He noticed people were starting to look. He lowered his voice. "I'll talk to him, okay? I don't know what he's doing, but please, don't kill him."

"I told you, if he got in the way, I would!"

"But has he? Did he attack?"

"Well-" Vincent stuttered and then groaned. "No, but I don't trust him! And neither should my men! He killed innocent people!"

"Y-you don't know tha-"

"Then prove me wrong!" The car finally arrived and Al and Vincent practically threw themselves into the car. Irina sped out of the town, almost crashing into people, and onto the path to the mountains. Vincent held his arms crossed and looked at Al. "If he attacks anyone, he's dead. You better get your friend in line."

Al nodded, determined. "I will!" In truth, Al was angry at the General. He definitely wanted to give him a piece of his mind. "Way to go, sir. You could mess up everything I've worked for," he whispered. Al didn't get angry often, but he was beyond angry at the General. He better have a good explanation for his reckless actions.

**xxx**

Ed pouted and grumpily trudged through the streets. He knew Al was going to grow up eventually. He knew Al was going to make friends. He knew Al was going to get a job. He knew he was going to marry some lucky girl and live away from him. Ed knew all of these things, yet he couldn't stop being upset about it. All his life, since their mom died, he had been Al's legal guardian. He had watched over him every step of the way. They were never apart for long, except when he had to go into hiding until the promise day. They did everything together, shared everything, and experienced everything. Now, Al was living his own life, shouldering his own secrets, and he certainly didn't need his overbearing big brother all the time anymore.

Ed sighed and plopped down on a bench. He knew he was being ridiculous and pathetic. He knew he was being a weak ass, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't ready for it. He wasn't ready for Al to grow up and become distant. Ed chuckled and pushed his blonde bangs out of his vision. "I'm pathetic as hell," he criticized himself. He knew he needed to grow a pair and accept that this was how things were going to be. It's just how adulthood is. He sunk into the bench and buried his face in his knees. He sat there, silently, until someone disturbed him.

"Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric?" someone asked.

"That's me. Who's asking?" he asked, lifting his head. He met a man with brown hair and blue eyes. He wore an Amestrian uniform. Ed straightened up and looked at the man.

"I'm State Alchemist Matthew Faust. I need you to come with me."

"Why should I?" he asked, leaning against the bench and patted the seat. "I'm just fine right here. It's pretty damn comfy." There was something off about the man, but he couldn't place a finger on it.

"It's orders from the Fuhrer. You've been summoned."

Ed arched an eyebrow. "Really?" He stood up. "Why's that?"

"Your service is needed. Come with me."

The man started walking, motioning him to follow. Ed began to follow, when he froze. "Just one question."

The man looked over at him. "Go on."

Ed pointed at his pocket. "If you're a state alchemist, where's your pocket watch?"

In a flash the man took off running. "H-hey, hey! You get the hell back here!" Ed chased the man through the crowd, but he lost him. "Damn!" He scanned over the heads of people, but he was nowhere be seen. "What the hell?" He scratched his head, trying to put together the situation. "Well that was weird." He looked around some more, even going as far as to climb on a roof top, but he knew the man was gone. He had lost him.


	12. Notice Of Cancelation

**Everyone, I'm sorry. I've never canceled one of my stories before, even with technical difficulties. However, I'm experiencing writers block, so I'm kind of stuck. I also got a job at target, and between my job, my school work, and my social life, it doesn't leave much time for writing. I might pick this back up in the summer once I'm done with my Sophomore year, or I might not. I'll just say this is canceled for now. Not many people are interested in this story, but to the ones that were, thank you so much for your support! I enjoyed writing it for you guys. **

**Hey, dorkus, if you're out there reading this, here's a message from me to you. You of all people should be able to decipher it. **

**HL R DZH XLIIVXG. BLF ZIV HGROO HGZOPRMT NV. R SZW Z UVVORMT, YFG R DZMGVW GL OVZEV Z NVHHZTV GL NZPV HFIV. XLNV LM MLD. R WRW GSV XLFIGVHB LU IVNLERMT NBHVOU UILN KOZXVH BLF TL GL. R DZMG BLF GL WL GSV HZNV. WLM'G ULOOLD NV ZILFMW ZMBNLIV. WLM'G GZOP GL NB UIRVMWH. WLM'G TVG LM AE. OVZEV NV ZOLMV. TREV NV GSZG XLFIGVHB, ZMW DV DROO MVEVI XILHH KZGSH ZTZRM.**

**The rest of you pay no attention to that. Thanks again, everyone.**


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